


The Wrong Professor Cutter

by VillainousVixen



Category: Primeval
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-08-21
Packaged: 2018-04-08 23:52:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4325658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VillainousVixen/pseuds/VillainousVixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Stephen was a student, he had an affair with Professor Cutter. Looking back, he thinks he may have chosen the wrong Cutter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

       Cutter could feel the warm trail of blood as it trickled down his cheek from the deep scratch under his eye. But after the night in the shopping mall, with a family of raptors, he knew he was lucky to have nothing but a scratch. The blood didn’t bother him.

            Someone he didn’t recognise in that ARC, which he also didn’t recognise, told him that he was responsible for getting Stephen home.

            Given how much he had apparently forgotten, he wondered if what he remembered about Stephen and Helen was still real. Had they had their affair in this world, or was that heartache reserved for the world he remembered?

            “I know this doesn’t help, Nick, but she was sleeping with other men too.”

            Nick’s hands tightened on the steering wheel, knuckles turning white with the grip. The car behind him pressed the horn impatiently, and he surged through the green light, wondering when it had changed.

            “You’re right,” Nick answered, as he parked outside Stephen’s building. “It doesn’t help.”

            “Thanks for the lift,” Stephen muttered. “Can we talk about this?”

            “I don’t have anything else to say.”

            “Maybe I do,” Stephen replied. “Can’t you just hear me out? Don’t I even deserve that?”

            “I don’t owe you anything,” Nick answered. “I don’t even care that she was having an affair. Things hadn’t been good between us even before she ran off into the past. But I care that it was with you. You were my best friend.”

            “I still am.”

            “If you so badly wanted to sleep with one of your professors, why coudlnt it have been me?” Nick whispered, as if Stephen hadn’t spoken, or as if he hadn’t hurt them. He immediately regretted it.

            “Cutter, do you wanna come inside?”

            Nick shook his head. He couldn’t seem to lessen his white knuckle grip on the steering wheel, even though they’d been stationary for several minutes.

            Stephen unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned over, pressed his lips against Cutter’s. It was barely a kiss, nothing more than a brush of lips, but Nick’s eyes fell closed anyway, his hands fell away from the steering wheel, and his head fell back against the headrest. His whole body relaxed as he felt Stephen’s breath ghosting over his lips.

            “Come inside,” Stephen repeated.

            “Stephen…”

            The word slipped out before Nick could stop it, and he instantly regretted it. His voice sounded wrong, too breathless and too desperate.

            “I want to…”

            “Then do it,” Stephen coaxed. “Helen always did what she wanted, and for a while she was really happy.”

            “For a while,” Cutter echoed. “But then the consequences caught up with her, and for a while she was a psychopath. Claudia Brown…”

            “Cutter, I don’t remember any Claudia Brown, but if you say she was real then I believe you,” Stephen told him. “Now, for the love of God, it has been a terrible night and I nearly lost my foot to a raptor, so will you please come inside and have a drink with me?”

            “Just the one drink,” Cutter agreed. As they got out of the car and started walking towards the building, they both knew it was going to be much more than one drink.

           

            Cutter let his eyes fall closed as he sank back into the sofa. It had been a long day, and a longer night, and he ached everywhere. He could hear Stephen walking around the flat, pouring them each a glass of Scotch.

            Nick jumped when he felt a cold, wet cloth pressing against his cheek. His eyes snapped open, and met Stephen’s; the younger man was only inches from his face.

            “I thought it might need cleaning,” he explained, wiping up the dried blood. His breath was hot on Nick’s skin, and Nick found himself leaning into the touch. “Is it really painful?” he asked, when Nick winced. The professor just shook his head.

            Stephen hovered where he was, letting the cold water soothe the skin for a moment, before he pulled away. He tossed the blood-stained cloth onto the coffee table, and tried not to think about the way his eyes kept darting to Nick’s lips.

            Nick’s hands twitched, and he longed to reach for his assistant – his friend, but he wasn’t quite brave enough.

            “Here,” Stephen offered one of the glasses, and Nick took it.

He drained it, without pausing for breath, and Stephen smiled as he set the glass back on the table.

            “Thank you,” Nick murmured.

            “It looks like you needed that,” Stephen told him.

            “I could do with several more,” Nick muttered. “Stephen…”

            “Nick…”

            They spoke at the same time, and it made Stephen laugh. He raised his own glass to his lips and smiled at Nick.

            “You first,” Stephen instructed.

            “OK,” Nick muttered. “I really want to kiss you,” he whispered.

            Stephen didn’t answer. He set his glass on the table beside him, and leant forward to press his lips against his professor’s. All at once he felt like a student again, like he was still fumbling around in the back of his car with his first girlfriend.

            Nick ran his fingers through Stephen’s hair, pulling him even closer, as his other hand came to rest snugly on his hip.

            It fit perfectly there, and before he even realised what he was doing he was pulling Stephen even closer.

            “Is this…ok?”

            Stephen’s voice jolted Nick out of his thoughts, thoughts about kissing Stephen until the air in the room ran out, and looked at his friend. Stephen had planted one knee on either side of Nick’s hips, and settled his weight carefully into the professor’s lips.

            “Yeah,” Nick whispered. He twisted his fingers into the hair at the base of Stephen’s skull, and yanked him forward into another kiss.

            The pain almost made Stephen groan, but it melted away when Nick’s lips met his.

            Nick swiped his tongue across Stephen’s bottom lip, and the younger man rocked his hips forward. Nick could feel the hard bulge of arousal in Stephen’s jeans, and he let out an embarrassing noise from the back of his throat.

            The fingers that reached desperately for the bottom of Stephen’s t-shirt were shaking, and Nick swore inside his head. He hoped Stephen wouldn’t notice.

            Instead, the younger man pushed Nick’s hands back, and pulled off his sweat-soaked, bloody t-shirt and tossed it aside.

            Nick wasn’t sure he could remember how to breathe.

            “Oh, God,” he finally whispered. It took a moment, but finally he rose one hand to Stephen’s chest. His skin was hot to the touch.

            “Nick?” Stephen finally prompted. “Is this ok?”

            “Yes.”

            For a moment, Nick just let his fingertips draw patterns of Stephen’s chest, until his soft skin was rough with goose bumps. He drew Stephen closer, running his fingers over the smooth ridges of muscle in the back of his shoulders.

            Abruptly, his hands fell away from Stephen’s body, as if he was embarrassed at how desperately he’d been touching the younger man. He fiddled with his watchstrap and refused to meet Stephen’s pleading gaze.

            “Why did you have to pick her?” Nick muttered. “I wanted you to pick me.”

            “I didn’t know…”

            The answer died on Stephen’s lips when Nick leant forward and wrapped his lips around one of his nipples, biting down on it just a little too hard to be entirely comfortable. But still, the pain radiated outwards, downwards, and his erection throbbed desperately inside his jeans.

            “I didn’t know you wanted me.”

            Stephen finally choked the words out, even as Nick kept kissing and sucking on his nipples.

             “You know now,” Nick whispered. But the words were lost against Stephen’s skin. The younger man tangled his fingers into Nick’s hair and yanked him up, into another kiss.

            While they were busy, tongues exploring each other’s mouths, Stephen ran one hand down Nick’s chest, flicking open the buttons of his shirt as he went. Nick shrugged it off his shoulders, shivering as the cool air met his skin. At least, that’s what he told himself. He wasn’t shivering because of Stephen’s fingertips tracing patters on his chest, not at all.

            “Nick,” Stephen whispered, closing his fingertips around one of Nick’s nipples. “Do you wanna go to my bedroom?” he offered.

            “Yes,” Nick murmured. Stephen stumbled to his feet, trying to remember the last time anyone had made him feel so…dizzy. Unable to recall, he locked his fingers through Nick’s and tugged the professor to his feet.

            He was almost relieved that Nick stumbled too, that his friend was having as much trouble holding himself together as Stephen was.

             “Come on,” Stephen whispered, pulling on his hand. Nick allowed himself to be led, tripping over his own feet with every other step.

 

            Stephen pushed Nick backwards, probably a little too hard, and Nick fell back onto the soft sheets of the wide bed. The younger man crawled on top of him, and they pressed their lips together again. His hands found Nick’s hips, whether he was trying to pull him closer or hold him still he wasn’t sure, but then Nick mumbled something into the kiss and he pulled back.

            “Say that again.”

            “Please,” Nick repeated, fingers clawing desperately at Stephen’s back.

            “Please what?” Stephen teased. His hands moved to Nick’s belt, and he opened the buckle while he waited for an answer. “Please what?” he repeated, opening Nick’s jeans and slipping his hand inside.

            “Love me,” Nick whimpered, pushing his hips off the bed, desperately seeking friction.

             “Oh, Cutter, I already do,” Stephen told him. “Say stop, if you like,” he added, and before Nick could fully understand what was happening, Stephen’s lips were sealed tightly around the head of his erection. 

            Nick raised a fist to his mouth, biting down on his white knuckles until he tasted blood. When Stephen looked up at him, those blue eyes framed perfectly by dark lashes, and Nick lost his breath.

            Replacing his lips with a tight fist, Stephen began to slowly stroke the older man’s length.

            “Good?” he asked. Nick just nodded, eyes falling closed as he surrendered to the pleasure Stephen was building.

            “Don’t do that,” Stephen whispered. He reached for the first Nick was biting down on, and gently pulled it away. “I want to hear you.”

            Nick swore, loudly, as Stephen’s hand tightened and he swiped his tongue through the pre-cum gathering.

            “Stephen!” Nick gasped, fingers flying to Stephen’s hair and pulling on it. Stephen just smirked, sucking harder, until Nick didn’t have the coherence to even form Stephen’s name.

            Stephen loosened his fist slightly, still stroking slowly, and ran his tongue along the vein on the underside of Nick’s throbbing erection.

            “Nick,” Stephen whispered, and for the first time Nick realised Stephen’s face was back, only inches from his. Nick’s eyes snapped open, though when he closed them he wasn’t quite sure, and Stephen was staring into his eyes with that look on his face. That look, like he was staring into Nick’s soul. It made Nick’s spine tingle, and heat pooled low in his belly – although he did think the latter might have been caused by Stephen’s hand that was still stroking him.

            “I need to know that you’re sure,” Stephen whispered.

            “Stephen,” Nick’s voice was deeper than he would have liked, and trembling, but he managed to find the words he needed and force them out. “I have been waiting for this, for you, for five years. Please, stop asking me if I’m sure.”

            When Stephen opened the top drawer of his bedside table, and came out with a bottle of lube, Nick swallowed the lump in his throat and rolled onto his stomach. He couldn’t look at Stephen’s face, in case his own betrayed him; his desperation had not yet reached a peak high enough to overcome his nervousness.

            Nick buried his face in the pillow, determined not to make a single sound, as the first of Stephen’s slick fingers breached his tight hole.

            “Fuck,” Stephen muttered, pressing a kiss to the back of Nick’s shoulder. “I had no idea you’d be so tight,” he whispered. Nick turned his head to the side, opened his mouth to say something, but the apology died when Stephen added, “it’s incredible.”

            When the tip of Stephen’s finger scraped over Nick’s prostate, he couldn’t help the noise that fell from his throat.

            Stephen could feel Nick relaxing under him, and took the opportunity to add another finger. Suddenly, involuntarily, Nick’s muscles were squeezing tightly shut around the intrusion. Stephen just pressed a kiss to the base of Nick’s spine, and another to his hip, and waited.

            “Let me in, Nick,” he whispered. “Let me in.”

            It took a moment, but finally Nick’s muscles loosened, and Stephen scarped his fingers over just the right spot to make the last of the tension in Nick’s body ebb away as he opened himself up for his friend.

            “Please,” Nick mumbled, fingers clenching in the soft sheets as he clung to them like a life preserver. “I need you, Stephen.”

            “One more finger,” Stephen instructed, pressing a kiss to the base of Nick’s skull as he added that third finger. Nick’s sweat-soaked hair clung to his neck as the concentration he dedicated to fighting his orgasm threatened to overwhelm him. The heat, coiling ever tighter in the pit of his stomach, was dangerously close to setting him on fire if he didn’t allow himself release soon.

            Stephen held his fingers there for a long time, moving almost minutely, until every muscle in Nick’s body was loose and waiting.

            When the head of Stephen’s erection pushed through the ring of muscle, it involuntarily tightened against the entry.           

            “Just relax,” Stephen whispered into his neck, fingers stroking reassuring circles onto his hip. It took a moment, and he could see the muscles in Nick’s shoulders trembling with the exertion of concentration, but finally the tightness loosened, and Stephen pushed forwards.

            He didn’t stop again until he was buried inside the older man. Nick didn’t move, and Stephen couldn’t breathe, and for a moment they were both perfectly still. Then Nick felt Stephen breathe, the exhalation hot on the back of his already sweat-soaked neck, and he pushed his hips backwards in response to the unasked question.

            Stephen still didn’t move, even though he could feel Nick’s body begging him to. He wasn’t sure he had any more slow and gentle in him, not when every cell in his body was screaming at him to take what he wanted until it gave him his release. But he couldn’t, didn’t dare, because what he had with Nick was worth far more to him than one orgasm that would be over far too quickly.

            “Stephen?” Nick whispered, turning his head to meet the younger man’s eyes. “Are you ok?” he murmured, but the smirk that followed made Stephen sure he was teasing him.

            “OK?” Stephen parroted, as if it were an alien concept. Then he returned Nick’s smirk. “OK doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

            “Move,” Nick whispered, and though it was so quiet Stephen barely heard it, there was no mistaking the desperation in the command.

            Stephen nodded, not trusting his voice to come out right.

            It took another excruciating moment for Stephen to rock his hips forward. Nick keened, an embarrassingly desperate whine from the back of his throat, and pushed back against the motion.

            Each of Stephen’s teasing, slow thrusts stopped just short of hitting the spot Nick so desperately craved.

            Nick pushed his hips back harder, until the younger man made contact with his prostate; Stephen slammed into it so hard that Nick saw stars and screamed.

            Finally understanding Nick’s message – that he wasn’t in need of slow or gentle, but instead desperately needed Stephen to make him feel everything – Stephen gripped Nick’s hips hard enough to leave bruises, and thrust into him harder.

            Nick cried out incoherently as every thrust hit his prostate, desperately reaching for the climax that remained just a little too far out of his reach.

            When Nick felt Stephen’s hand sliding around his hip, to wrap tightly around his aching erection, he thought he might sob at the relief the touch brought him. And he might have, if he hadn’t already been moaning at the brutal pace of Stephen’s hips thrusting into him.

            “Please!” he gasped. His hips rocked forwards into Stephen’s hand, but almost as soon as he’d found the pleasure of the tight stroke of his fist he was craving the pleasure of the hard thrust to his prostate, and was pushing his hips back to find it again.

            Nick couldn’t decide which of the two sensations was more powerful, nor could he decide which was going to make the coil of pleasure in his belly snap.

            As the coil of pleasure wound tighter, Nick knew this was going to be the most intense orgasm he’d had in a very long time. And the ache of the building pleasure was too much, and he couldn’t remember how move towards either intense pleasure.

            Stephen’s tight fist was dragging him closer to the edge of the precipice of orgasm.

            Another especially hard thrust hit his prostate hard enough to shove his hips forward, and stroke of Stephen’s fist was enough; every muscle in his body drew taut as the coil of pleasure snapped, and his orgasm exploded through him – white hot and delicious.

            Stephen loosened his first, but continued with slow, steady strokes as Nick’s orgasm covered his hand and the sheets. He continued, until the sensation burned.

            Somehow, although Nick didn’t know how, Stephen knew exactly when the sensation was becoming too much, and he pulled his hand back.

            Stephen stilled his hips, although it took every ounce of his self-control not to thrust into the delicious grip of Nick’s clenching muscles.

            He waited until all of Nick’s senses returned, and then Nick turned his head slightly to meet Stephen’s gaze.

            “Stephen,” he whispered.

            The only answer came from Stephen’s panting breaths, hot against the back of his neck. Stephen’s hips rocked forwards at the sound of Nick’s voice; it had that delectable, post-orgasmic warmth, and Stephen knew that he would do anything to hear Nick speak in that voice every single day.

            “Stephen,” he repeated, and he wrapped his hand around Stephen’s, locking their fingers together. “Cum for me,” he whispered, focussing on clenching his muscles tight around Stephen’s length.

            And Stephen couldn’t have said no, even if he’d wanted to.

            His hips thrust forward once more, almost painfully hard, and his whole body trembled as his orgasm blazed through him. He cried out Nick’s name, and all at once his body fell slack, and fell on top of Nick’s.

            Nick allowed him a few minutes, feeling his breath still hot and panting on the back of his neck, before he shifted slightly under him.

            “Kinda heavy, Stephen,” he mumbled.

            “Sorry,” Stephen answered. He came back to his senses and rolled away from the older man. “Nick,” he whispered, rolling onto his side to look into his eyes.

            “Stephen…” Nick teased, smirking slightly. Stephen just laughed, and shook his head. Whatever he’d been about to say no longer seemed important. Instead, he leant over and licked up every drop of Nick’s release from his stomach.

            “That feels nice,” Nick whispered, as Stephen kissed his way back up his chest.

            “Do you have any idea how long you’ve had that coming?” Stephen teased. The older man just laughed.

            “Probably about as long as I’ve wanted it,” Nick answered. “But, to make it up for keeping you waiting so long, we’ll have to have a repeat performance in the morning,” Nick offered.

            Stephen just looked at him for a long moment.

            “You’re really going to stay?” Stephen asked. “You mean it?”

            “I don’t think I can move,” Nick told him.

            They lay still, silent, for a long time, just holding onto each other like they had nothing else in the world.

            Nick broke the silence first.

            “Why her, Stephen?”

            “Don’t do this now.”

            “Then when?” Nick asked. “I have to know, Stephen. Why did you pick my wife?”

            “Honestly?” Stephen challenged. Nick nodded. “Because I couldn’t have you.”

            Nick just nodded thoughtfully, and leant in to press a kiss to Stephen’s lips.

            “She was real, Stephen. Claudia Brown was real, and Helen did something in the past that took her away from me.”

            “You loved her,” Stephen whispered. It wasn’t a question, but Nick nodded anyway. “I believe you, Nick. I just don’t think that me believing you is enough to bring her back.”

            “If I go back, to that place where we…”

            “Nick,” Stephen interrupted. “Helen, whether you like it or not, knows more about this than we do. If you go back there and start messing around with the past, we might lose someone else. It might be Abby next, or Connor, or…me.”

            “I coudlnt bear it if I lost you too,” Nick told him, running his fingertips down Stephen’s cheek. “I really love you.”

            “I really love you too,” Stephen whispered, brushing his lips against Nick’s in another gentle kiss.

            Stephen’s eyes fluttered closed, and it made Nick smile.

            “Sleep tight,” Nick whispered.

            “Goodnight,” Stephen replied.

            Nick just smiled at his friend’s sleeping form, pulled the blankets up to cover them, and watched as Stephen settled into a comfortable sleep.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

            Nick woke up alone in the wide bed. He ran his hand over the cool sheets where Stephen should have been, and glanced over at the glowing alarm clock. It was too early for him.

            “I’m going for a run,” Stephen told him, leaning on the doorframe.

            “I’ll be at work…soon,” Nick murmured, stretching out and making a content sound in the back of his throat.

            “Call me if you need anything,” Stephen told him, closing the bedroom door behind him.

 

            When Stephen returned to the empty apartment, the first thing that hit him was the irony-tang of blood hanging in the air. His mind shot to Nick, and panic clutched at his heart. Then he saw Helen. The fear was quickly replaced with distain.

 

            While Stephen was dealing with his old lover, and worrying about what he should tell Nick, the professor was growing more irritated by his new colleague. Jenny Lewis could no longer be mistaken for the Claudia Brown he knew, not now he had seen her at work.

Stephen’s arrival distracted him for a moment, but it wasn’t long before they were separated by the fog, and Jenny was back at his side.

            They were on the tenth floor, and Nick realised Jenny was still walking a few steps behind him.

            “After everything Stephen’s done, you’re still willing to risk your life for him?”

            She sounded so damned incredulous that Nick wanted to turn back and slap her for even suggesting that she abandon his friend upstairs.

            “Meaning what?” he challenged.

            “Lester asked me to asses anything that might interfere with the team’s efficiency,” Jenny told him. Nick didn’t say anything. “I’d have thought Stephen’s affair with Helen would have come into that category.”

            It sounded even worse in her judgemental voice, and Nick thought he had gotten over it, until her heard it in her voice. He stopped walking and turned to face her.

            “So, he sent you here to spy on us?”

            Nick knew that he had a tendency to become defensive when he was angry, but after everything he had already led his team through he felt his anger was justified; anger at Lester for sending her, and angry at Jenny for being so critical, and of course for being so much like Claudia while also being her polar opposite.

            “I prefer to call it management appraisal.”

            Cutter almost laughed. The woman was quick witted if nothing else, and he had to respect her for that.

“And you think that I should just leave him up there to die because of what happened with him and Helen?” he challenged.

“Some people would,” Jenny answered.

“Well, I’m not one of them.”

Nick turned away from her and started to take the stairs two at a time again.

“Whatever problems I've got with Stephen I can sort them out for myself,” he told her. He was already thinking about how desperately he needed to have Stephen back at his side.

 

“I’m sorry that I left you behind, in the office.”

Nick was driving back towards Stephen’s building before he finally found the words he’d been groping for since they’d left the ARC.

“You didn’t,” Stephen answered. “The way I remember it, you came back for me.” He smiled. Nick just shook his head, and turned off the main road. As the narrow streets took them closer and closer to Stephen’s building, he felt his stomach turn.

“Nick can we…” Stephen sighed, not sure if his flat was empty yet or not. “Can we go to your place instead?”

Nick hesitated for a moment. Stephen felt the knot of tension tighten in his chest. If Nick found out that Helen had been in his flat the fragile trust they’d just managed to rebuild would shatter in an instant.

“Yes, we can,” Nick finally answered.

It was a longer drive, to the house Nick and Helen had shared since they got married, but neither of them spoke much during the journey. Nick handed Stephen his keys when they got out of the car.

“I’ll be right in. Just need to unload some stuff,” he explained. Stephen nodded, and let himself into the house. He waited in the hallway while Nick retrieved a bag of laundry from the boot – stuff he’d finally emptied out of his locker, covered in blood and slime and all manner of bodily fluids none of which were his.

He dropped the bag, and led Stephen into the lounge. Nick fell onto the sofa, tugging Stephen down with him.

“Did she ever bring you here?” Nick whispered, letting Stephen lean on his chest.

“Don’t do this. You don’t want to know,” Stephen told him.

“I do,” Nick insisted. “There is nothing I would rather know.”

“No, she never brought me here,” Stephen answered. “I wanted to come,” he went on, resting his hand over Nick’s heart. He wondered why it was beating so hard, so fast. “I always hoped she would bring me here one day. I thought, maybe, when she fell asleep, I could sneak into your office. I’ve never seen your office here.”

“Well then,” Nick answered. “I think it’s time we did something about that. Come on.” He stood up, and held out his hand. Stephen took it lie a lifeline and followed Nick upstairs.

“This really isn’t anything exciting,” Nick cautioned, as he slipped the key into the lock.

“It is to me,” Stephen replied.

“I’m going to get a drink. Scotch?” Nick offered. Stephen nodded. “You can go in, just don’t break anything. And put everything back where it came from,” Nick instructed.

Stephen walked into the office, running his fingertips over the spines of the books on the nearest wall. The room was so ‘Nick’ he didn’t think he had ever seen anything more perfect. Even if Nick hadn’t let him in, he would have known that this room was Nick’s no matter what.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Nick spoke from the doorway. Stephen jumped, and his fingers stumbled where they’d been running over the largest ammonite fossil he’d seen. “I excavated it in Peru when I was a post-grad.”

“It’s stunning,” Stephen answered. He took one of the glasses from Nick, and raised it to his lips. Before he could drink it, Nick was pulling him away.

“This is better,” Nick told him. He took him over to the glass cabinet, as far away from the door as the room would allow. “Perfectly preserved velociraptor eggs; even Helen didn’t know I had these.”

“You spent a lot of time in here,” Stephen whispered, and he took a sip of the amber liquid. It burnt the back of his throat and gave him the courage to reach out and take Nick’s hand. “There is one more thing I’d like to see.”

“What’s that?” Nick asked.

“Your bedroom.”

Nick just nodded, and led him to the bedroom. He swallowed his drink in one gulp as they walked, and immediately set the empty glass down on the bedside table.

As soon as he turned around, Stephen was so close that Nick could feel the warmth of his breath on his lips, and he closed the gap between them with a desperate kiss.

Nick explored Stephen’s mouth with his tongue, and as it did, Nick took the glass Stephen still held and set it down beside his own. He pulled Stephen’s body tightly against his, stepped back towards the bed. Stephen moved with him willingly.

When Stephen felt Nick’s hands sliding over his back, he leant back from the kiss.

“I really want you, Nick,” he whispered.

“Good,” Nick smirked. “Because I really want you too.” His hands reached for the bottom of Stephen’s t-shirt, but when he felt warm fingers sliding under his own, over his skin, he forgot how to move. “Take it off.” Nick tried to ignore how his voice sounded far too much like a whine, and Stephen just chuckled and pulled off Nick’s t-shirt. He cast aside his own too, and without the barrier they had formed, they pressed themselves back together.

The places where their skin was touching burned with desire, and neither of them felt like they were close enough, but to get closer would have been to break the laws of physics.

“Stephen,” Nick growled, pushing him back towards the bed. “Stephen…I…” Stephen waited for Nick to find the words he was looking for, and while he was waiting he pulled Nick onto the bed on top of him. When Nick tried again, with just as little coherence, Stephen just smiled.

“Ssh…” he soothed, and he flipped them over and pressed a soft kiss to Nick’s throat.

“I love you,” Nick murmured. Stephen’s fingers opened Nick’s belt, and the professor groaned at the feel of his fingertips brushing over bare skin.

“I love you too,” Stephen whispered against Nick’s hip, as he pulled off the older man’s jeans and boxers in one move.

Nick ran his fingers through Stephen’s silky hair, revelling in the feel of it sliding over his rough fingertips. He tried not to pull too hard on it when he felt Stephen’s lips closing around the head of his erection, but he was afraid he failed.

And when he tried not to thrust his hips up to meet the wet heat of Stephen’s mouth, he failed at that too, and Stephen’s lips wrapped tight around the base of his erection. His hips jumped, and he was worried Stephen might gag, and he already an apology prepared on his lips. But the younger man just groaned and the sound vibrated through Nick’s whole body.

The apology died on Nick’s lips, since apparently Stephen didn’t mind that he couldn’t stop his hips thrusting, desperately seeking more pressure from Stephen’s lips.

“You’ve done this before.”

Nick wasn’t sure how he managed to form the words, as Stephen’s tongue was moving in ways that should have been illegal. Stephen laughed in response, and the sound made Nick’s hips thrust upwards again. Smiling, Stephen pulled backwards.

“Guilty,” he answered. “Is that a problem?”

When he wrapped his lips back around Nick’s shaft, the professor couldn’t answer.

One of Stephen’s hands closed around Nick’s hip, gripping hard enough to leave bruises, as he wrapped his tongue around Nick’s shaft. Pulling back, to focus on the head of Nick’s aching erection, Stephen closed his other hand around Nick’s shaft.

When his teeth scraped over the tender flesh, Nick gasped, but Stephen could recognise that there was no pain in the sound. He repeated the action, pressing a little harder, and Nick swore as his muscle tensed.

“Gonna…”

He tried to spit out a warning as his climax build, but he wasn’t sure if Stephen had heard it or not. But then the pleasure reached its blinding peak, and there was nothing he could have done to stop the orgasm tearing through him, even if he’d tried.

When Nick felt his senses coming back, and managed to open his eyes, he realised that Stephen’s tongue was still moving over the sensitive flesh. He whimpered, though Stephen was keeping him just on the right side of the line between pleasure and pain. He knew he couldn’t dance along the line for long though, and when he whimpered again he twisted his fingers into Stephen’s hair and pulled him up to kiss him.

Stephen ran his fingertips down Nick’s cheek, and t made the older man smile. His lips were swollen from their kisses, and Stephen pressed his thumb against his lower lip and smiled.

“I’ve wanted to taste you since…forever,” he whispered. Nick just smiled, and pulled him into another kiss.

When his tongue slipped past the barrier of Stephen’s lips, he realised he could taste himself in the younger man’s mouth. It shouldn’t have been anywhere near as delicious as it was, and his erection throbbed at the taste of his own released mixed with the scotch, and something else that was entirely Stephen; sweet and delicious.

Nick tried to ignore the way his hands shook as he reached for Stephen’s belt, but he couldn’t help it. The sight of his unsteady hands made Stephen chuckle, and he waited for a moment – watched Nick’s fingers slide useless over the belt buckle – before putting the professor out of his misery and opening the belt.

“Do you have…?” Stephen trailed off as Nick moved away. He opened the top drawer of the bedside table, and handed Stephen a bottle of lube. Stephen stepped out of his jeans, and ran his eyes over Nick’s body thoughtfully.

“Stephen…” Nick pleaded, reaching for him. “Please.”

Stephen just nodded, and flicked the lid open.

When Nick felt two slick fingers pressing against the tight ring of muscle, he went tense. Stephen pulled his hand back instantly.

“I’m sorry. Don’t you want me to?” Stephen asked.

“Oh, believe me, I want you,” Nick answered.

“Then what is it?”

Stephen’s smile made Nick melt, and for a moment neither of them spoke. They just stayed where they were, staring into each other’s desperate eyes.

“Nick?” Stephen prompted.

“Nothing.” Nick shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts of killer worms and thick fog and the look on Stephen’s face when he’d seen Nick coming back. “I want you,” he whispered.

“You’ve got me,” Stephen whispered, and he pressed a gentle kiss to Nick’s hip. Before Nick could say anything else, those two fingers were back and pushing inside him.

“Shit!” he gasped, involuntarily clenching his muscles tight around Stephen’s fingers.

“Just relax,” Stephen whispered, peppering Nick’s hips and stomach with more of the same soft kisses. “Let me in, Nick.”

“You were the only one I ever let in,” Nick answered, running his fingers through Stephen’s hair. And Stephen knew he meant more than just this, as he twisted his fingers, he knew how much Nick trusted him. His heart almost broke when he thought of all the things he’d done to betray that trust, to betray the man he loved.

“Stephen,” Nick whispered.

“I know,” Stephen answered, and with his free hand he locked his fingers through Nick’s and squeezed his hand. 

When Stephen added a third finger, without any warning, Nick swore. But he relaxed around the intrusion almost instantly, when Stephen’s fingertips grazed his prostate and made his erection throb angrily against his stomach.

“Ready?” Stephen asked.

Nick couldn’t breathe, as he waited for Stephen to push his thick length inside him. He nodded desperately, trying to remember how to form words, but he couldn’t seem to manage it.

“Oh, God!” Nick gasped when Stephen filled him, the head of his erection hitting Nick’s prostate perfectly, and with enough force to make him see stars.

“You don’t have to call me God,” Stephen teased, wrapping his fist tightly around Nick’s erection. “It’s probably blasphemous.”

“I don’t think it is,” Nick shook his head, running his hand over the muscular terrain of Stephen’s chest. Stephen gasped when he felt Nick’s calloused fingers sliding over his already hard nipples; the skin tightened even further, making them impossibly harder, and electricity shot directly from his nipples to his throbbing erection. Though it hadn’t been his intention, he thrust into the professor hard.

“Fuck, Nick,” Stephen muttered, trying to concentrate on moving with a consistent rhythm. But every time he managed to settle back into a steady pattern, Nick’s fingers would discover another spot that sent electricity down his body; spots Stephen had never known before.

And Nick found them all, and Stephen could read his expression – it was one he knew very well. Mentally, Nick was making notes of every single spot that made Stephen’s hips falter in their rhythm.

Stephen felt Nick’s heels in the small of his back before he even realised the older man was moving under him. Nick pushed his heels in harder, trying desperately to drag Stephen even deeper.

The younger man leant down and kissed him again, their tongues mimicking the movement of their bodies as Stephen settled back into his steady rhythm.

It wasn’t enough, and it was too much, all at once. Every single thrust made Nick’s head spin, and he was dizzy with the force, but it was too slow. The precious few seconds between each deep thrust meant his orgasm stayed just out of his reach.

As Stephen moved faster, and Nick’s vision started to blur at the edges, he couldn’t even move – though he longed to raise his hips to meet Stephen’s.

Where they had been kissing, Nick’s lips went slack, and Stephen smiled, and moved to his neck instead. Nick shivered at the contact, as Stephen drew patterns on his skin in kisses. Every near-violent thrust that hit his prostate made him clench tight around Stephen’s length.

“Nick…” Stephen whispered against his neck. The hand that he still had resting on Nick’s hip tightened, leaving bruises on top of the bruises that had already formed on his skin. His other hand was tight around Nick’s shaft, applying just the right amount of pressure to hold back Nick’s impending climax.

“I am so close, Nick,” Stephen spoke through gritted teeth, sweat beading on his forehead with the concentration it took to get the words out.

With every bit of strength he could muster – and it was more than he thought possible – Nick clenched his muscles around Stephen. The younger man growled something Nick didn’t catch, and thrust into him so hard Nick knew he’d still feel the force of it for days.

“Fuck, Nick, I love it when you do that.”

Nick laughed, almost. It was too breathless to come out right, but Stephen knew. Even with the absence of sound, the action sent vibrations through them both, and Nick clenched his muscles again.

“Cum for me, Stephen,” Nick pleaded.

Even if he’d wanted to, Stephen couldn’t have said no. The orgasm had been building deep in his stomach for several long minutes, and the spark of fire was ready to blaze.

And blaze it did.

Through every artery and vein, until his whole body was shaking with the force of pumping his release into the professor.

He cried out Nick’s name, and a long string of expletives, and the fire kept burning, and he kept coming, and it did not end as quickly as he’d expected.

“Oh, God,” he gasped, burying his face in Nick’s shoulder. “Fuck, Nick,” he whispered, trying to remember how to breathe.

“Stephen…” Nick whimpered, thrusting his hips desperately. Stephen’s hand was still too tight, still holding back his release, and it was almost painful.

Stephen loosed his grip, just the right amount, and started to stroke. It only took a few thrusts of Nick’s hips before his breath stopped. And everything exploded.

When Nick opened his eyes, Stephen was licking his fingers, sucking Nick’s release off of them, and Nick smiled.

Stephen didn’t realise the older man was laughing, until he saw his shoulders shaking.

“What’s the joke?” Stephen asked.

“It’s nothing,” Nick murmured.

He told Stephen about his conversation with Jenny in the office block, and how she had wanted Nick to leave Stephen upstairs until they’d had a better plan.

“I told her that whatever problems I had with you, I could sort them out myself.”

“Why is that funny?” Stephen asked. He rolled onto his side, propped up on one elbow, and looked down at Nick, drawing pictures on the older man’s skin with his fingertips as they spoke.

“I was just thinking…have we gotten over it yet?” Nick asked. Stephen laughed.

“I’m over her,” Stephen shrugged. “I was never into her. She was just a poor substitute for you. I could tell myself I was sleeping with Professor Cutter, and I liked the way it sounded. But I wasn’t thinking of her.”

“You settled.”

“So did you, when you married her.”

“That’s not true,” Nick corrected. “Whatever problem’s we’ve had since, I loved her when we got married.”

They stayed perfectly still, silent, for what felt like an eternity, and then Nick spoke again.

“I think I’m over it. But, just be sure, you should probably stay here for a few more nights.”

“I will stay as long as you’ll have me,” Stephen answered. “Because I love you, Nick.”

“I love you too,” Nick told him. His eyes fluttered, though he forced them to stay open, to stay locked on Stephen’s.

“Do you think, maybe, we could go to sleep now?” Nick murmured.

“Is that really what you wanna do?” Stephen teased. His fingertips had travelled down Nick’s stomach, to tangle in the hair at the base of his softening erection. He wrapped his hand around it, enjoying the twitching heat in his hand.

“Stephen…” Nick whispered. The desire in his voice was clear, but it was overwhelmed by the drowsiness that was so thick it was taking over them both.

“Maybe in the morning,” Stephen decided, with a quick kiss to Nick’s jaw. “That is, if Jenny doesn’t call us with an ‘end of the world’ type scenario before then.”

“Let the world end.” Nick decided. “If I spend the last of it with you, my life might just be worth it after all.”

Stephen looked like he was about to answer, but before he could, sleep took hold of Nick. He planted a few more soft kisses along Nick’s jaw before curling himself against Nick’s body and settling down to sleep himself. 


	3. Chapter 3

Neither of the men were awake when Nick’s phone rang. Stephen mumbled something into the pillow as Nick untangled himself from Stephen’s arms. Stephen didn’t move, didn’t even listen while Nick took the call.

“Is the world ending already?”

Finally he sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Nick just laughed and put his phone down.

“Well, Lester seems to think so.”

“He’s exaggerating,” Stephen insisted, trying to pull Nick into a kiss. 

“We should still go.”

“Connor and Abby can handle it.”

There was something so pleading, so desperate, in Stephen’s eyes that Nick almost allowed himself to return the embrace. Almost.

“I’m not letting you out of bed until you’ve woken me up properly.”

Stephen trailed his fingertips down Nick’s bare chest, reaching for his half-hard length. Nick twisted his hips away before Stephen reached his destination, but he pressed his lips to Stephen’s in another desperate kiss.

Stephen parted his lips to the kiss, allowing Nick’s tongue access to explore his mouth. While the professor was kissing him, and he was doing it very thoroughly, Stephen ran his hands over Nick’s chest far less meticulously.

“We really should…” Nick couldn’t remember the end of the sentence, because Stephen’s hand had found his hardening length, and he was stroking it insistently.

“We really should…stay in this bed all day,” Stephen finished it for him, although he knew that wasn’t where Nick had been going. His hand never stopped moving, coaxing Nick’s length to hardness.

Nick’s eyes fell closed at a particularly tight stroke, and his body betrayed him by raising his hips to the touch. Stephen gave him a knowing smile, and repeated the action that he had enjoyed.

“I really have to go,” Nick tried to project as much authority as he could, given his current position with Stephen’s hand teasing him. “And I need you to come with me.”

It took everything Nick had to push Stephen’s hand away.

“Fine,” Stephen muttered, pouting like a petulant child. “But, when we’ve finished with the…”

“Animal attack in an amusement park,” Nick supplied. Stephen rolled his eyes at the thought of all the tourists, and kids, but didn’t object further.

“When we’re finished, you have to let me bring you home,” Stephen told him, rolling out of bed.

“Deal,” Nick agreed.

 

Stephen knew that Nick hated it when innocent civilians died. And he hated it even more when people took advantage of the animals of any era. Valerie hadn’t exactly been innocent, but she hadn’t deserved what had happened. Stephen knew it would be the cause of a foul mood that Nick would wallow in for an indeterminable amount of time.

The journey was tense and the air hung heavy with an uncomfortable silence.

“If you want me to go home, I understand,” Stephen whispered, when Nick pulled up outside his house. Nick just grabbed his wrist; he was holding a little too tightly, but Stephen didn’t protest.

“Don’t,” Nick answered. “I want you to come inside,” he whispered.

Stephen didn’t say anything else. He followed Nick silently up the path to the house, and inside. Being unsure of what to say, he decided it would be best not to say anything, until Nick set the tone and topic of the conversation.

The professor seemed content with the silence, as he poured himself a glass of Scotch. He held out the bottle to Stephen, who just nodded, and Nick poured him a glass.

“Nick,” Stephen finally whispered. “I don’t know what to say. I know how much you hate it when people get hurt.”

“And you don’t?” Nick challenged, handing Stephen one of the glasses.

“I didn’t say that,” Stephen answered “Tell me how I can make it better, Nick. I’ll do anything.”

“Kiss me,” Nick whispered.

He leant back against the kitchen counter, and wrapped an arm around Stephen’s waist to pull him in. And Stephen allowed himself to be pulled, and returned Nick’s kiss desperately.

Nick growled, and twisted his hands into Stephen’s hair, pulling hard enough to make Stephen gasp into the kiss. They were pressed so tightly together, that Nick wasn’t sure where his body ended and where Stephen’s began. Stephen wondered if that was what Nick wanted – to pull him in so close that they would become the same person.

Stephen couldn’t breathe, but he still didn’t try to end the kiss. He just fell into it, letting his head spin as Nick’s tongue explored every millimetre of his mouth.

Finally, Nick leant back, but he didn’t let Stephen step away from his tight embrace.

“Upstairs?” Stephen prompted. Nick shook his head desperately, and leant into another kiss. “Nick, you’re scaring me.”

“I just want to forget,” Nick answered. “You were right.”

“What was I right about?”

“We should have stayed in bed.”

Stephen just smiled and nodded, and he pressed his lips back against Nick’s. He waited until he felt the older man relax against him.

“Why don’t you take me back to bed?” Stephen whispered.

Nick shook his head, and pushed Stephen back hard. The younger man collided, hard, with the opposite counter, and Nick pressed his whole body into Stephen’s.

“Just kiss me.”

As soon as Stephen’s lips met his, the younger man slipped his hand inside Nick’s t-shirt. The graze of fingertips over his skin made Nick shiver in anticipation.

“Shouldn’t we go to your bedroom?” Stephen pleaded, as Nick pulled his t-shirt over his head. Nick made quick work of his own t-shirt, and then started exploring Stephen’s chest; every day fresh bruises and cuts changed the terrain. And Nick hated each new blemish, because it showed some pain that his lover had felt that Nick hadn’t saved him from. Stephen didn’t even notice Nick’s hesitation; he buried his lips in Nick’s neck and started working on opening the professor’s belt.

Nick growled when Stephen reached into his jeans and started stroking his length. The fabric was constricting, and the angle wasn’t good, and it offered nothing in way of release, but still Nick found himself relishing the contact.

“Stephen…” Nick’s hands slipped uselessly over Stephen’s belt, trying to find more skin to explore.

Stephen pushed his hands away though, and spun them around. He lifted Nick onto the counter, and pressed their lips together again as Nick wrapped his legs around Stephen’s waist and pulled him in.

At the feel of Stephen’s erection pressing against his own, even through the layers of course denim, Nick growled. Stephen thrust his hips forward, hard, and they both moaned.

“Please,” Nick begged.

Stephen didn’t know what he was begging for. He didn’t think Nick really knew either. So, he pressed his lips back to Nick’s, and kept grinding his erection against Nick’s until they both writhed with desperation.

When Stephen dragged Nick’s jeans down, his eyes went wide. The professor wasn’t wearing underwear.

“Fuck, Nick,” he muttered. “You’ve been in the park all day, without any underwear on?” Stephen raised one eyebrow, but Nick just nodded, and tried to pull Stephen into another kiss. “God, if I had known…”

“Why do you think I didn’t tell you?” Nick teased, brushing his fingers through Stephen’s hair. “Were you planning on doing something?” Nick tried to keep his voice casual, like he couldn’t care less either way.

He missed by a mile.

Instead he managed pleading, almost whining, and Stephen chuckled.

“I had a few idea,” Stephen replied, and before Nick could fully grasp what he was doing, the younger man was on his knees.

The longer they’d been together, the more Nick found himself learning about his young lover. He’d been so surprised the first time Stephen had done this that he hadn’t fully appreciated the talent he displayed.

And it was the best head Nick could ever remember getting.

He let his eyes roll back in his head, slamming his skull into the tiled wall too hard, but not much caring. Stephen’s tongue teased and tortured him, dragging him closer and closer to his impending orgasm.

But it wasn’t to be had.

Stephen pulled back and got to his feet, just before Nick could fall over the edge.

“Do you have…?” Stephen trailed off when Nick shook his head.

“Just fuck me already, Stephen,” he whispered. “I don’t need anything. Just you. I need to feel you.”

Stephen hesitated, looking into Nick’s desperate eyes. Nick, who could read the reluctance, reached out and started stroking Stephen’s erection through his jeans.

Stephen kicked off his jeans, and tried not to stumble as the feel of Nick’s hand carefully stroking his erection.

He was desperate to have Stephen inside him already.

However reluctant Stephen had been only moment before, he thrust hard into the professor with no preparation. The look on Nick’s face was almost enough to make him cum right there and then.

It was raw and rough, and it didn’t last more than a few minutes, but both of the men were gasping as if there weren’t enough air in the room by the time they reached their simultaneous climaxes.

Stephen kept thrusting, slowly and gently, as Nick came down from his high. Nick clung to him desperately, his nails biting into the skin and leaving marks on Stephen’s back. The younger man didn’t make any indication that he cared though, and Nick wasn’t sure that he could have topped himself if he tried.

“I love you,” Nick murmured, burying his face in Stephen’s shoulder.

“I love you too,” Stephen replied. He felt Nick’s muscles clenching around him, and he groaned as he started to harden again. “I can’t…” he whispered, though there was something desperate in his voice, and Nick knew he wanted to, even if he couldn’t.

“Take me to bed, Stephen.”

The look in Nick’s eyes was enough to get Stephen to follow him up to the bedroom.

Stephen covered Nick’s body with his, never breaking the kiss they’d been locked in since they entered the bedroom. When Nick felt Stephen’s fingers against his entrance he realised for the first time how sore he was after their rough encounter in the kitchen.

He broke the kiss, and looked up at Stephen.

“Can I…?” Nick gasped, his words lost, when Stephen’s hips rocked forward and their erections brushed against each other.

“Can you what?” Stephen pressed. “Talk to me, Nick.”

“I…I wanna be inside you,” Nick gasped. He thrust his own hips upwards, finding a rhythm that fit perfectly with Stephen’s.

The younger man hesitated, and Nick mistook the pause for uncertainty.

“I love it when you’re inside me,” he whispered, his hips rolling constantly with Stephen’s. “I feel complete, like you’re a part of me. I want you to feel that too.”

Stephen swallowed around the lump in his throat, and even as he opened his mouth, he wasn’t sure what he was going to say.

“That’s the most romantic thing you have ever said to me.”

“I think it’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever said to anyone. Including my ex-wife,” Nick teased. “Is that a yes?”

“Yes,” Stephen whispered, pressing his lips against Nick’s. “Of course it’s a yes.”

Nick rolled them over, never breaking the kiss as they moved. His hips never lost their rhythm against Stephen’s either, and the younger man wondered when Nick became so well-coordinated.

Finally thought, he pulled back to breathe, and Stephen felt that lump in his throat growing. Nick grabbed a pillow, and tucked it under Stephen’s hips for easier access.

“Nick, I’ve never…” Stephen gasped when Nick pressed a kiss to his hip, and tried to force himself to remember how to breathe.

“I’ll go really slow, I promise,” Nick told him. He wrapped his hand around Stephen’s erection and started to stroke it slowly.

Stephen tried to thrust his hips into the tight grip, but Nick draped one arm over his stomach to hold him in place.

“Relax,” he whispered, reaching into the drawer beside the bed for a bottle of lube.

Stephen let his eyes flutter closed, and tried to remember how to breathe. He heard the snap of the bottle opening, and the slick of the liquid covering Nick’s fingers, and tried not to let his muscles tense again.

When he felt the first of those slick fingers pushing into him, he coudlnt help it. He swore, and his muscles went tight. Nick trailed hot, open mouth kisses over every inch of Stephen’s hips and thighs, waiting.

Stephen wished it didn’t take him so long to relax around the intrusion. But Nick was nothing if not patient, and he waited calmly for Stephen’s muscles to fall slack. He pushed in a second finger.

Stephen’s eyes snapped open, and he clenched down so hard that he thought he might break Nick’s fingers.

Nick groaned at the tightness, desperate to feel Stephen clench around his erection like that. Instead, he focussed on the movement of his fingers as he searched for the right spot, hoping it would have the desired effect.

It did.

When Nick’s fingers brushed over his prostate, he swore violently, and it made Nick smile.

“Relax for me, Stephen,” he murmured, stroking his fingers over that spot until he felt Stephen’s muscles go slack.

“Nick, please,” Stephen whimpered. His hips thrust up uselessly, seeking friction for his aching erection. “Please,” he repeated.

Nick pressed his lips against Stephen, in the hopes of distracting him, and while their tongues tangled around each other, Nick pushed his aching erection past the tight ring of muscle.

He moved slowly, but didn’t still until he was fully sheathed inside the younger man. Then he went still.

Stephen growled something against Nick’s lips, and the older man pulled away long enough for Stephen to cry out.

“More!” he pleaded.

Nick smiled against his neck, brushing his lips over the soft skin. He felt the pulse racing under the skin, and Stephen cried out at the gentle ministrations.

Trying to keep everything gentle, Nick began to rock his hips.

Although the muscles had relaxed – as much as Nick thought they would – Stephen was still so deliciously tight and hot around him. He was sure he couldn’t last long buried in that clenching heat.

Their lips met feverishly, desperately, and Nick’s tongue mimicked the movements of his hips as he gently sped up his thrusts. Stephen tried to respond to the kiss, but as he felt his climax approaching, he fell slack.

Nick turned his attention to Stephen’s neck instead, sucking hard enough to leave a bruise that would last days. He smiled at his handiwork.

“Nick, I’m so fucking close,” Stephen stammered, and Nick felt his muscles tightening around his length. The sensation made Nick’s hips stutter in their rhythm, but when he pulled out and slammed back in it was so hard that Stephen’s back arched off the bed and he exploded his release.

Just the sight of Stephen beneath him was enough to send Nick spinning headlong into his own orgasm. He grunted something that vaguely resembled Stephen’s name as the pleasure flooded through him.

Stephen wrapped his arms tightly around Nick as they curled up together under the duvet.

“Thanks,” Nick whispered.

“I think that was supposed to be my line,” Stephen teased. “Are you ok?”

“No,” Nick shook his head. “And I’m not going to be, for a little while. But then, I will be,” he whispered. “It’s always the same.”

N Nick knew it would be. This was the way of things, in his life – his life since the first anomaly. Valerie was still dead, and she still would be come morning. They still hadn’t been able to save her, or the cat. And he and Stephen couldn’t fuck away the pain of it all. But damn it, they’d tried.

“Thank you,” Stephen whispered against Nick’s neck. He ran his fingers through the sweat soaked hair at the base of Nick’s skull. “That was perfect.”

“It was. Goodnight,” Nick whispered.

“Goodnight,” Stephen echoed, letting his eyes fall closed.

It had only been a few minutes, and he was already drifting towards sleep, when Nick sat up again, and ran his fingers over Stephen’s bare chest.

“What are you doing?” Stephen mumbled, never opening his eyes.

“You’re beautiful,” Nick whispered.

“Beautiful is for girls,” Stephen protested, forcing his heavy eyelids open. “I am not a girl.”

“No, you’re not,” Nick agreed, and he wrapped his fist around Stephen’s softening erection.

“No more,” Stephen protested weakly.

The blood was already rushing south, betraying him, but Nick heard the exhaustion in his voice and drew his hand away.

“Tomorrow,” Nick promised. “That is, if the world doesn’t end before then.”

Stephen laughed at the running joke, and pulled Nick back into his arms.

“I think it might. But just in case we survive til Friday night, I made dinner reservations.”

“OK,” Nick mumbled. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“It’s not like I’m going anywhere,” Stephen mumbled, closing his eyes again.

He was asleep in a few seconds.

 


	4. Chapter 4

“You really need to take a shower,” Stephen murmured. Nick was covered from head to toe in a fine layer of Silurian sand. Nick just laughed, and ran his hands through Stephen’s dark hair. Sand scattered to the floor over their feet.

“You think I’m the only one?” he teased.

They were alone in the ARC’s locker room, so when Stephen pulled Nick’s shirt off, the professor let him.

“You know, Lester had a meeting earlier,” Stephen murmured, tossing his own shirt to the floor. “It was all about budgets, and how we had to save money.”

“I can’t wait to see where this is going,” Nick muttered, opening his belt. Stephen just watched as Nick stepped out of his jeans. His pale skin was bruised and scratched, much like Stephen’s, and the younger man wished there was some way he could ease Nick’s pain.

“Well,” he finally sighed, “it seems so wasteful to run two showers when we’re both absolutely filthy,” he whispered, pressing his chest against Nick’s back to whisper in his ear.

It took a moment, but then Nick realised exactly what Stephen was asking for. He pushed him back, and Stephen collided with the row of lockers with a deafening crash. He pressed his lips against Stephen’s desperately. Stephen gasped. Nick groaned. And the two sounds couldn’t have been distinguished using all the technology in the world.

“Well, we wouldn’t want to annoy Lester, would we?” Nick agreed, stepping back just enough to breathe.

Stephen kissed him again, pressing their bodies so close together that the only way to breathe in was when Nick breathed out.

“Shower!” Nick gasped, clawing at Stephen’s back.

He wondered how, what it was about Stephen that made him so capable of reducing Nick to a whimpering, uncoordinated mess of limbs with little more than a few kisses.

Stephen knew exactly what Nick needed, and he was always willing to give it to him. So he stepped back far enough to pull of his own jeans.

When Stephen stood before him, nothing but taut muscle and bruised skin, Nick’s mouth went dry, and his erection hardened almost to the point of pain. They both move in a frenzy towards the showers, pausing every now and then for more hot, open mouthed kisses.

Finally, though neither of them could be certain how they managed it, they were pressed against each other under the cascade of hot water. But the tiles were cold against Nick’s back when Stephen pinned him to the wall to kill him again.

This kiss was less urgent than the others; the desire was still palpable, still crackling through the air between them, but there was a note of something else – something caring and loving. It was kisses like these that made Nick’s heart skip in its rhythm, as they communicated – successfully without words – that there was something meaningful and tender and fragile about this, more than just the violent sex that it could have been mistaken for easily as they pushed each other against walls.

The aggressive way they liked to treat each other – all rough and urgent and clothes-tearing and legs-shaking and passionate, was slowly being replaced by this. Nick felt the change in Stephen’s treatment of him; his lips were gentler, less bruising and more compassionate.

This was how Stephen showed him that he valued Nick’s life above his own. Because the words were too clichéd, and he’d never managed to get them out anyway, and even if he found a way Nick wouldn’t want to listen or believe him. So instead, he just kept kissing him, because it was the only way he knew how to show Nick what he felt.

“Mine,” Stephen whispered. His hands came to rest on Nick’s hips as they both desperately reached for each other. Nick wasn’t sure if the possessive claim was a statement, or a question, so he laced his fingers through Stephen’s and nodded.

“Yours,” he whispered.

He pressed his lips softly to Stephen’s neck, and breathed in the scent of him. The water hadn’t washed away the sweat from this part of his skin yet, and Nick traced his tongue over the throbbing artery, relishing in the taste of him. The taste of Stephen’s skin under his tongue was like a drug, but Nick had no desire to kick the habit. Instead, he just licked another strip down Stephen’s neck and felt the younger man shudder for him.

“Mine,” Nick echoed Stephen’s claim desperately, pulling him in closer.

“Yours,” Stephen agreed. Where their fingers were still locked together, he squeezed Nick’s hand. “All yours,” he added, desperately pushing his hips forward against Nick’s.

“Stephen…” Nick whispered, brushing his fingers through Stephen’s dark hair. “What are we doing?”

“If I have to explain, I must be doing something wrong,” Stephen answered, rolling his hips against Nick’s again.

“That’s not wat I meant.”

Nick grabbed Nick’s hips, trying to keep him still long enough to finish the conversation. It didn’t work. Stephen’s hips kept rolling against his.

“Are you seriously asking me if I’m your boyfriend? Right now?” Stephen teased.

“Well, are you?” Nick muttered.

“We have sex often.” Stephen punctuated that particular point with another roll of his hips. “We have a Friday night dinner date, which I’m hoping will conclude with more of that remarkable sex I just mentioned.”

“Remarkable?” Nick groaned.

“Remarkable,” Stephen agreed. “Every time you kiss me my heart stops. A part of me is missing when you’re not there. So yeah, I think that probably makes you my boyfriend.”

“Good,” Nick whispered. He tangled his fingers into Stephen’s hair, and pulled him into another open-mouthed kiss.

Stephen reached between them and wrapped his hand tightly around both of their aching erections. He set a steady rhythm with his hand, even though they both thrust forward into his grip as he moved.

“I really want to fuck you right now,” Stephen growled in Nick’s ear. “But I won’t.”

Nick whimpered something that was probably a question, but didn’t sound like anything coherent, and thrust especially hard into Stephen’s grip.

“I want to take my time with you,” Stephen explained. “In your bed, I’m going to make love to you.” Nick whimpered with anticipation. “But, right now, I bet you’re really close,” he whispered. “Aren’t you?”

“Please,” Nick pleaded, begged almost. “Please.” He thrust desperately into Stephen’s grip – which the younger man had loosened teasingly.

“You have no idea how many times I’ve thought about this,” Stephen whispered against Nick’s neck. “You can’t imagine, how many times thinking of you made me cum; how many times I’ve screamed your name into the night.”

“I know just how you like it,” Stephen teased, tightening his grip again.

“Stephen!” Nick cried out as his orgasm exploded through him. They both slumped against the cold tile wall as the water flowed over them, turning lukewarm and then cold before it drove them out of the shower.

 

When Stephen said Friday night dinner date, he pulled out all the stops. He was even wearing a proper shirt – with buttons. And that itself was enough to make Nick speechless when he’d first seen it.

And that was how Nick found himself sitting in his favourite restaurant, him and Stephen feeding each other bites of desserts.

“That is really good.”

Nick washed down his mouthful of Stephen’s dessert with a sip of red wine, and smiled.

“I don’t believe it; Cutter.” Lester was standing at Nick’s elbow. Jenny just behind him. And Nick’s spoon was frozen, halfway across the table, where he had been offering it to Stephen.

“What are you doing here?” Nick asked. The spoon clattered to the table, splattering the white tablecloth, but neither of them could bring themselves to care.

“We were having dinner, with the Minister,” Lester answered. “And you?” he countered.

“We’re on a date,” Stephen answered. “Our first, official, date that is. We’d appreciate some privacy.”

“I didn’t know…” Jenny’s eyes met Nick’s, and he held her gaze.

“It wasn’t much of a secret,” he told her, with a carefree shrug. “It just wasn’t your business either.”

“That’s me told then,” Jenny murmured. She tried to keep the pain off of her delicate features, but she failed. “I’ll see you on Monday.”

Nick nodded, and turned his attention back to Stephen.

“Your turn,” he murmured. He picked up his spoon, and gathered another spoonful of his dessert to offer Stephen.

“It’s good.”

Stephen smiled, but it didn’t make his eyes sparkle like they usually did.

“Do you wanna get out of here?” Nick offered.

“That is the best idea you’ve had all day,” Stephen answered.

 


	5. Chapter 5

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know they would be there,” Nick apologised, as Stephen took a seat on the sofa. He busied himself pouring glasses of Scotch.

“I’m the one who made the plans,” Stephen reassured him. “They’ll all know about it by Monday…Abby and Connor and Becker…”

“Are you ashamed of me?” Nick asked, handing him the Scotch and curling up beside him. The younger man shook his head, but Nick could see there something worrying him. “What is it, Stephen?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Stephen answered. He shook his head, dismissively. “I’m taking you upstairs, and I’m going to make love to you like we’re the only people in the world.”

“Now that’s a challenge. Are you sure you can handle it?”

“I think I can cope,” Stephen muttered. “Give me your phone.”

“Why?” Nick asked, but he handed it over anyway.

“Cos I’m switching it off. And mine too. I don’t want the ARC calling,” Stephen explained. “The world can end, if it wants, but I’m spending all night loving you.”

“Let it end,” Nick whispered, and he leant in to kiss him.

Stephen took Nick’s hand, and pulled him to his feet. Nick allowed Stephen to lead him up to the bedroom, pausing briefly at the top of the stairs so Stephen could press a light kiss to Nick’s lips. Nick shivered as the anticipation coursed through him; it had never been like this before, it had never meant quite as much.

Stephen pushed Nick back carefully, crawling over him as he relaxed into the soft mattress. His fingers worked open the buttons of Nick’s white shirt, revealing his marred skin.

“I always worry about these,” Stephen whispered, fingers dancing lightly over the bruises and scratches on Nick’s chest.

“Likewise,” Nick murmured. He reached for Stephen’s shirt, but Stephen pulled away.

“Just let me do this,” Stephen whispered. “Let me love you, Nick,” he murmured. Nick sat up slightly to slide out of his shirt, and then he relaxed into the pillows.

Stephen left a trail of hot, open-mouth kisses all over Nick’s torso, working from his shoulder blades down to his navel. He dipped his tongue into Nick’s navel teasingly, while his hands worked on Nick’s belt.

Nick gasped when Stephen’s tongue slid along the skin about the waistband of Nick’s trousers, and his erection throbbed at the promise of more contact. Stephen dragged his trousers down, and his boxers with them, kissing the inside of his thighs as he did. Nick suddenly realised that Stephen was still wearing too many clothes, but he couldn’t find the words to tell Stephen to take his clothes off.

When Stephen’s tongue started moving over his shaft Nick growled. He didn’t mean to thrust his hips into the contact, but he knew Stephen didn’t mind, so he let them move. Not that he could have stopped them if he’d tried.

Stephen wrapped his lips tight around Nick’s balls, sucking on them until Nick whimpered for him.

“Please, Stephen…just get on with it,” Nick muttered.

“You’ve just got no patience,” Stephen answered. He smiled, and wrapped his hand tightly around Nick’s shaft.

“Please,” Nick whispered. Stephen kept moving his hand, slowly pumping Nick’s throbbing erection, until the older man was tensing and writhing beneath him ready to explode.

“Ah, not yet,” Stephen murmured. He pulled his hand away and got of the bed. Nick just watched, breathing shallowly, as Stephen pulled off his own clothes.

The sight of the younger man peeling off his clothes, revealing his skin inch by inch, made Nick’s mouth dry. With every inch of skin that was exposed, Nick longed to reach out and touch him, but he stayed where he was; he was determined to follow Stephen’s unspoken rule not to touch him.

“I love you,” Stephen whispered, as he pushed Nick’s legs apart. Nick shivered as Stephen’s finger circled the tight ring of muscle at his entrance. He searched desperately for the words he needed, but when he opened his mouth, no sound came out.

“Shit!” he gasped, when the first of Stephen’s fingers breached his tight entrance. The younger man found his prostate instantly, and was pressing his finger against it with an incredible amount of pressure.

“Relax, Nick,” he whispered, pressing another finger inside and immediately returned to that spot. “God, I love you,” he mouthed against Nick’s hip.

Nick reached for the words, but he couldn’t find them. Stephen just laughed, and pressed his lips against Nick’s. The gentle, exploratory kiss served as a distraction as his throbbing erection pushed through Nick’s muscles.

“I love you!” Nick finally gasped, clawing at Stephen’s back.

“Nick…” Stephen buried his face in Nick’s neck, trying to memorise the taste and smell and feel of the man believe him.

“Stephen, please…make me cum, Stephen…” Nick pleaded; his voice breaking as Stephen’s slow thrusts tormented his prostate.

“Just from this,” Stephen told him, as another perfectly-angled thrusts slammed against his prostate. “I used to dream about you,” he whispered, teeth grazing the soft skin beneath Nick’s ear. “Time was, every time I sat down in one of your lectures I ended up with an erection so hard it was painful. Just the sight of you made me ache.”

“Every time?” Nick asked.

“I always wanted to do this, professor,” he growled against Nick’s neck. Nick gasped, thrusting up against Stephen as he silently begged for more. “I wanted you, like this, coming apart because of me.”

Stephen saw Nick’s muscles tensing as he ran his hand over Nick’s hip.

“That’s it, Nick, let it go. Cum for me.”

Maybe there was something in it, some sort of order or command or plea, but all Nick knew was that Stephen’s voice – demanding his release – was enough to tm him over the edge.

He fell, gasping Stephen’s name as his orgasm began in his throbbing length and spread through his whole body.

Something on Nick’s face – either his eyes rolling back, or his mouth slightly parted, or his teeth biting desperately on his lower lip – pulled Stephen with him. Stephen cried out a long string of profanities and emptied himself into Nick.

“I love you,” Stephen whispered as they separated. “God, you have no idea.”

“I think I do,” Nick smiled. “Because I love you too,” he whispered.

Nick curled up in Stephen’s arms, listening to his pounding heart that still raced with the aftermath of his orgasm.

“What was it that upset you?” Nick asked. “Is it that everyone will find out about us?”

“Yes,” Stephen nodded. “But not for the reasons that you think.”

“Tell me,” Nick pleaded.

“I’m not ashamed of you, or this,” Stephen told him. “But I want to keep you all to myself. Once they know, they’ll talk about it, and pick it apart, and that’s when everything goes wrong. I love you too much to let them take you away from me like that.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Nick whispered.

They curled around each other, clinging on so tightly that nothing in the world could have separated them.

“Why didn’t you go with Helen?” Nick asked. The question startled Stephen, and he flinched in Nick’s arms.

“Sorry?” Stephen untangled himself, and sat up, looking into Nick’s eyes.

“She asked you to go with her. That was before you and me…before we were together like this. So, what made you stay?”

“Why are you asking about this now?” Stephen asked.

“Because I want to know the answer,” Nick murmured. “It’s just something I’ve been thinking about. You could have had all of history. I could see you wanted it. If she’d asked me, I would have gone, and I didn’t even love her.”

Stephen didn’t answer for a long moment. He swallowed around the lump in his throat, trying to put together his answer. Nick would have gone, if Helen offered him history, but that wasn’t what she was offering. She just wanted Stephen so Nick couldn’t have him, so he couldn’t have Nick.

“I was still holding out for you,” Stephen answered. “I didn’t love her, Nick. And she didn’t love me, and she didn’t want me. She asked me so that she could hurt you. I couldn’t love someone who would do that. I needed to stay,” he whispered. “I needed to keep waiting for you.”

“Goodnight, Stephen,” Nick murmured.

“Goodnight,” he echoed. He lay back down, curling up with Nick, and smiled to himself. “Wake me up if the world ends.”

“I think I’d rather just hold you tight and let it fall apart around us,” Nick whispered, but he didn’t know if Stephen heard him. He kissed him gently, briefly, and then pulled away and settled in to sleep himself.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Nick stumbled blindly through the compound, lost in the smoke and dust as he searched hurriedly for daylight. He briefly registered that Helen was still beside him, but he didn’t acknowledge her presence.

As the creatures locked in the feeding room started tearing each other apart, they rocked the foundations violently, and the compound was going to collapse around them.

“This way,” Helen told him, taking a sharp turn as she started to lead him out.

It should have been her, Nick thought as he followed her. She should have gone back in there and closed the door. Not Stephen, not his Stephen.

When they finally made it outside, into sunlight that was too bright for his mood, he fell to his knees and retched. He vomited, until there was nothing left in his stomach but the heavy stone of guilt that settled there.

“You always did care too much, Nick,” Helen muttered. “He wasn’t anything special,” she whispered. And then she was gone.

Nick retched a few more times, and the sour taste of his stomach acid flooded his mouth. He tried to spit it out, to clear the taste, but nothing would get rid of it.

Before he knew what was happening, he was being pulled to his feet, into a warm and familiar embrace.

“Stephen!” he gasped.

He stepped back, looking into his best friend’s eyes. “But I saw them, they were tearing each other apart. They were going to tear you apart.”

“Yes,” Stephen whispered. “And they would have done too, but I am very good at finding back doors.” He shrugged, and stepped back. “They got to each other first, and there were so many. They started…they were tearing into each other. And I found the door. None of them saw me, until I was on the other side.”

Nick had never felt relief like it.

He pulled Stephen back into his arms, and held him so tightly that the younger man though Nick would never let go again. If he’d had his way, whenever would have.

But they’d only stood together for a few minutes before they heard their friends’ voices calling for them. The sound got nearer and nearer, and they had to step apart and reassure their friends that they were ok, and any wounds they had were superficial, and they could get themselves home.

Stephen followed closely behind Nick, and even though they both knew the way, Nick kept checking his mirrors to make sure Stephen was still there.

When they reached the house, Nick was still fumbling in his pockets for his keys when he felt Stephen’s lips pressed against the back of his neck. It successfully distracted him.

“If you don’t stop that, we’ll never get inside,” Nick murmured. But he didn’t really try and evade the contact.

“Just use mine,” Stephen muttered, thrusting a ring of keys into Nick’s hand. It took a moment for Nick to use them to open the door, as he’d almost forgotten that he had given Stephen a key only a few days earlier. He jolted back to attention suddenly, and he managed to open the door and stumble inside before his knees threatened to buckle as Stephen kept kissing him.

He fell heavily against the wall, held up only by Stephen’s body pressing against his.

The events of the day crashed over him all at once, and the tears came before he could stop them. Ashamed, he buried his face in Stephen’s neck.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered. “Don’t you ever do that to me again.”

“Never,” Stephen promised He kissed Nick’s cheeks, over and over, until no trace of his tears remained. “I am never leaving you again.”

“Good,” Nick whispered. “Can I ask you something?” he murmured. His voice was still thick with the tears. Stephen nodded. “Why on Earth are you still paying rent on a flat you haven’t set foot in for weeks?”

Stephen didn’t know what he had been expecting from the older man, but it sure as hell wasn’t that.

“I…” he stuttered, struggling for the right words. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”

“You have a key,” Nick told him. “You have your own drawer in the dresser. My wardrobe has more of your clothes than mine. You have a shelf in the bathroom. I’m pretty sure you’ve already moved in,” Nick went on. “Just…make it official.”

“What if I say no?” Stephen whispered.

Pain flickered across Nick’s face, and Stephen noticed it, before he began his reassuring spiel.

“If you still want a place of your own, I don’t mind. I thought you liked sleeping here, but if you’d rather not…”

Nick was cut off by Stephen’s lips crushing against his.

“You are an idiot, Nick,” Stephen told him. “How could I ever want to leave?” he whispered, pulling Nick into another kiss. “If I stop paying rent on my flat, you’re really gonna be stuck with me.”

“However will I cope?” Nick feigned terror at the idea. “I like being stuck with you,” he added, unnecessarily. “You’re the one who’s going to end up stuck with me.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Stephen told him. He pressed another brief, gentle kiss to Nick’s lips.

It was only then that Nick realised they were still standing in the hallway, and he was still pressed against the wall but Stephen’s body. And he was suddenly very tired.

Having worked with Nick for almost ten years, Stephen recognised the exhaustion on the older man’s face, and stepped back slightly.

“Bed?” he suggested. Nick shook his head, silently pulling Stephen into the lounge instead.  

Wrapped in each other’s arms, they settled into the sofa. Nick rest his head on Stephen’s chest, listening to his pounding heart. And while he did, Stephen played with the professor’s hair, gently running the strands through his fingers. Even that barely-there contact was enough to electrify Nick’s whole body, and he felt the tiredness seeping away.

“Stephen…” Nick whimpered, when Stephen’s fingertips brushed the skin on the back of his neck.

“You know, your accent gets heavier when you’re tired,” Stephen teased.

“Not tired,” Nick told him. “So fucking turned on,” he corrected. Stephen just smiled. “Why does it even matter?”

“It matters,” Stephen twisted his fingers into Nick’s hair and pulled almost violently, until their lips were only millimetres apart, “because it is the hottest thing I have ever heard. And if you keep talking to me like that, I am probably going to cum in my underwear.”

Nick closed the gap between them with a bruising kiss.

When Stephen’s hands started roaming over his chest, Nick wined, and he jeered away from the kiss.

“Are you ok?”

The lust in Stephen’s voice had already been replaced with suffocating concern, and it made Nick smile.

“Just bruised.”

Nick attempted to brush off the pain, by straddling Stephen’s lips to kiss him again, but the younger man wasn’t fooled.

“Show me,” he insisted.

Nick sighed, like he was fed up of the whole conversation, but he didn’t argue; he just pulled his t-shirt over his head.

The fresh, black bruise covered most of his right side, and it made Stephen’s eyes widen in shock.

“That is one helluva bruise,” Stephen muttered. But Nick knew he wasn’t really angry, not at him anyway.

“What about you?” Nick asked, trying to pull Stephen’s t-shirt off.

For all of his concern about Nick, Stephen’s own bruises were far worse, accentuated only by the scratches that still had trails of blood running from them. Nick kissed him gently, carefully pressing his lips to every scratch and bruise, until Stephen was so hard inside his jeans that he couldn’t focus on any of the pain in his body.

Nick felt Stephen’s erection pressing against his own, and he rocked his hips slowly, grinding against the younger man.

Before too long the lust and desire burning between them drove away any concern that they may have had for the other’s injuries.

When Stephen opened his eyes, his pupils were blown so wide that Nick could barely make out the minute ring of blue around them. As he met Stephen’s eyes, he was sure that the same thin blue line circled his own black pools of desire.

Stephen’s soft moans and whimpers startled Nick out of his thoughts, and he wondered how long the younger man had been making those delicious sounds in the back of his throat.

“Nick…” Stephen pleaded. His hips thrust up hard, disturbing Nick’s tantalising rhythm.

“What?” Nick asked. Because he enjoyed watching its effect on Stephen, he accentuated his already thick accent. It made Stephen whimper. “What do you want, Stephen?” He leant into his ear as his hips found their rhythm again. “Do you want to fuck me, is that it?” he whispered. “Or do you want me to fuck you?”

“Shit, Nick!” Stephen gasped, trying to fight the desperate urge to come apart right then. “If you don’t stop fucking talking…”

“It always feels incredible to have you inside me,” Nick interrupted, knowing exactly the affect his words were having on the younger man. “You always get so deep inside me. And you’re so thick, you stretch me open so deliciously…”

“Nick!” Stephen cried out as his whole body went rigid under Nick’s, and he came in his boxers like the teenager that Nick made him feel like.

Nick never lost the rhythm though, he focused on nothing but his hips rocking against Stephen’s through his orgasm, trying to draw out his pleasure until the younger man whimpered from the over-stimulation.

He was gasping for breath, and he buried his face in Nick’s neck desperately. Nick slipped his finger through Stephen’s sweat-soaked hair, and down his back reassuringly.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered. “I’ve got you Stephen, just relax,” he murmured.

It took him a moment to realise, Stephen was sobbing into his neck. He just continued to whisper reassuring words in the younger man’s ear, until his breathing levelled out.

“OK?” Nick asked, kissing Stephen’s tears away.

“Yeah, sorry,” he murmured.

“It’s ok,” Nick assured him. “I’ve got you,” he added, when Stephen clutched at his hands again.

“How do you do this to me?” Stephen whispered. “No one has made me feel like that in years,” he murmured. He ran his fingers through Nick’s hair. Nick didn’t answer, he just leant forwards and pressed his lips against Stephen’s again.

Nick growled when Stephen’s hand squeezed his throbbing erection through his jeans.

He should have been embarrassed by the fact it only took a few strokes through the thick material to make him explode, his erection throbbing against Stephen’s hand. And he would have been, had it not been for the look of awe and delight on Stephen’s face.

“Shower?” Stephen offered. The stickiness in his boxers was becoming uncomfortable, and he was sure that Nick would feel the same when he came down from the delicious high of his own orgasm.

Nick just nodded, following Stephen up the stairs on shaky legs. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to stand long enough to make it into the shower, but he allowed Stephen to hold him against the wall and pull of his clothes anyway.

His muscles loosened the second he stepped under the stream of hot water, but it was the feel of Stephen’s hands digging into his shoulders that made him groan.

Stephen’s hands worked relentlessly to smooth out the knots in Nick’s tired muscles, but every time he moved to a new muscle he felt the previous one go tense and rigid again.

“You’re always so tense,” Stephen whispered against his neck. “Don’t you ever relax?”

“I’m relaxed now,” Nick answered, leaning back against Stephen’s chest. But the tight muscles in the back of his shoulders said otherwise.  He turned to face Stephen, and pressed their lips together. As they kissed, Stephen felt Nick relax into his arms. He went boneless, leaning heavily on Stephen as the younger man’s tongue danced with his own. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Stephen murmured, stepping out of the professors embrace.  “I think it’s time for bed,” he murmured, when Nick stumbled and struggled to regain his balance without Stephen to lean of for support. “And then,” he whispered, catching Nick again, “maybe we can have the kind of sex that doesn’t end with a mess in my underwear.”

“Let’s go,” Nick answered, seeming slightly more alert. He reached forward to turn off the water. It ran icy cold before stuttering to a stop, and Stephen shivered at the cold. But when Nick pressed his warm body back against Stephen’s and he suddenly didn’t care about the cold.

They made their way to Nick’s bedroom, their bedroom now, and Stephen forced Nick backwards until his knees met the edge of the bed and he collapsed onto the soft sheets.

Stephen covered Nick’s body with his, and they pressed their lips together. He smiled when he felt Nick clawing desperately at his back.

“Fuck me,” Nick whispered desperately, as he felt Stephen’s rock hard erection throbbing against his own half-hard member. “God, I was I was young age again,” he muttered. He wrapped his fist tightly around Stephen’s erection.

“You always do that,” Stephen told him. “You’re not that old,” he murmured. As he wrapped his hand around Nick’s member the blood rushed south, and it hardened in his hand.

“Older than you,” Nick muttered.

“And I still love every inch of you, old man,” Stephen teased. “Now shut up,” he added, pressing his lips against Nick’s as his hand started moving on his erection.

Nick thrusting into the tight grip, gasping as if the air in the room was running out. It made Stephen smile.

“I love you too,” Nick whispered. “Please…” he gasped, as Stephen squeezed his erection a little too hard. “Fuck me, Stephen.”  

“Yes,” Stephen answered. He buried his face in Nick’s neck, and set to work kissing and nibbling on the pale skin until he left a satisfying red mark. Nick arched his back, pressing into the contact desperately when words failed him.

“Stephen…now…” Nick pleaded.

Stephen kept kissing his neck, and lightly pumping his erection, but he didn’t do anything.

“Some people just have no patience,” Stephen teased. He chuckled as Nick’s hips moved, thrusting desperately into the grip.

“And some people are evil, and spend far too much time teasing,” Nick growled, dragging Stephen’s lips into a kiss. “Get on with it,” he demanded.

Stephen had never been able to refuse Nick.

When they were nothing but a professor and his student, all Nick had to do was say jump, and Stephen didn’t even need to ask how high before he did it. He always knew exactly what the professor wanted, on instinct.

If he’d been thinking about it, he might have said that’s why they were so perfect together. If he’d been thinking about it, he might have said they were probably soul-mates.

But he wasn’t thinking about, because all he could think about was the quiet noises that Nick was making as he tried desperately to make Stephen take him.

“Yes,” he finally whispered, snapping out of his thoughts. He reached for the bottle of lube on the bedside table, and pushed two fingers into Nick hard, wrapping the professor’s legs around his waist as he searched for the right spot. He knew he’d found it when Nick cried out his name, and he stroked the bundle of nerves as Nick’s length throbbed in his other hand.

“Yes!” Nick echoed, his eyes hooded with lust. He tried to keep watching Stephen’s face – the younger man was so gorgeous, all the time, but especially like this – but his eyelids were heavy. But Stephen – in the dim light that flooded through the bedroom window, with eyes dark from lust, with lips swollen from kisses and slightly parted as he drew breath like a man who had been saved from drowning – was remarkable enough to make him force his eyes open.

When Stephen noticed that Nick was watching him, he expected to blush at being caught staring. When he didn’t feel the tell-tale heat in his face he realised there wasn’t enough blood about his waist to bring the flush of colour to his cheeks.

“More!” Nick begged.

Stephen pushed in another finger. The extra lube he used was cold, and it made Nick hiss, and his muscles tightened for a moment. But as soon as Stephen’s fingers found that spot inside Nick, it didn’t matter; his muscles relaxed and he thrust wantonly against Stephen’s hand.

“Such a slut,” Stephen whispered. “You’re so desperate for it, aren’t you, Nick?” he asked. “Beg for it.”

“Stephen…please…” Nick gasped.

Stephen wanted to drag it out; he wanted to make Nick whimper and sob. He had planned for far longer, far more teasing, and a far more intense release when it came. But when he heard Nick’s accent curling around the words, he couldn’t help himself.

With one more press to that sweet spot inside Nick, he withdrew his fingers and replaced them with his aching erection.

Nick gasped with every rock of Stephen’s hips. Stephen was buried so deep inside him, that Nick would swear he could feel him all the way up to his throat, forcing out the whimpers and gasps that he couldn’t contain despite his best efforts.

He bit his lip almost hard enough to draw blood, and the sight of it made Stephen chuckle.

“Don’t do that,” he admonished. “Don’t hide from me. I want to hear every single whimper,” he told the older man, leaning forward and increasing the speed of his hips.

That action changed the angle of his thrusts, and suddenly he was hitting Nick’s prostate hard with every violent thrust.

Nick’s toes curled, and he felt the orgasm building in the pit of his stomach. As the coil of pleasure tightened his blood turned to fire and burnt him from the inside out, and every muscle in his body went tense and caused the uncontrollable way his body quaked beneath Stephen’s.

“That’s it,” Stephen whispered into his neck. “You’re so close, Nick. Just let go.”

A particularly hard thrust hit Nick’s prostate so hard that he screamed, and his orgasm burned through him. It began in his balls, the building pressure finally spilling over into explosive release. It travelled through his whole body, until his muscles ached from exertion, but he never wanted that fiery pleasure to end.

Stephen thrust into him through his orgasm, keeping the fire burning through him, until Nick went boneless under him – sated.

Stephen froze.

His throbbing erection begged for him to keep moving; he only needed a few more hard thrust to take himself over the edge, and his body was crying out for the pleasure of release.

But Nick’s body was so charged, his skin so sensitive, that any movement from Stephen would push Nick over the line between pleasure and pain. No matter how much he needed the release, he couldn’t hurt the older man.

It felt like an eternity for Stephen, but it was only a few minutes, before Nick came back to his senses. He gave Stephen the most perfect smile, the lazy, sleepy kind that lit up his eyes even though they were still cloudy with lust.

“Cum for me, Stephen,” he whispered.

Despite the drowsiness threatening to overtake him, he forced his eyes to stay open and stay locked on Stephen’s.

“It’s too much. I don’t want to hurt you,” Stephen whispered.

“You won’t,” Nick insisted. He clenched his muscles tightly around Stephen’s length. “You feel so good inside me, Stephen, just do it.”

Stephen’s hips snapped forward.

Nick let out a whimper that was equal parts pain and pleasure, and Stephen froze again.

It made Nick sigh, but he knew he would never make the younger man move again. Now Stephen had seen the pain of over stimulation on Nick’s face, he was too gentle to make him feel it again.

Nick massaged Stephen’s length, clenching and unclenching his muscles around the younger man’s erection. He was so desperate to feel the younger man’s release.

Stephen gasped as Nick’s muscles squeezed around him.

The look on Nick’s face was enough to make Stephen fall apart. His hips snapped forward again, the pleasure overwhelming his concern about hurting the older man. He shot hot bursts of cum into Nick’s clenching passage.

Nick groaned at the hot, wet feeling as it flooded him.

When Stephen tried to slide out of him he locked his legs together around Stephen’s waist and held him in place.

“Stay there,” he whispered. “Please, just for a minute,” he added, as he felt Stephen start to soften inside him. Stephen just nodded, and pressed a kiss to the hickey he’d left on Nick’s neck.

“You ok” Stephen whispered. He rest his hand on Nick’s chest and felt his pounding heart. Nick considered his answer for a long moment.

He wasn’t ok. He was so much better than ok; he was so damned happy that he didn’t even think there was a word for what he was.

After the pause, he nodded.

“What are you thinking about?” Stephen murmured.

“I’m thinking that…ok is a crappy adjective, and it should be banned.” Nick answered.

“You’re not ok then?” Stephen asked.

“No, I’m not,” Nick told him. For a moment Stephen’s face fell. “I am so bloody wonderful I think my heart might explode,” he answered, brushing his fingertips down Stephen’s spine. “I really thought I’d lost you today.”

“You are never getting rid of me,” Stephen told him.

He finally rolled away from Nick, curling up beside him. Nick locked their fingers together as Stephen rest his head on Nick’s chest.

“The minute you gave me keys to this place you were stuck with me.”

“You’re stuck with me,” Nick corrected. “Until the world ends.”

“I thought today was the end of the world,” Stephen murmured.

“I thought it was, when you were still inside,” Nick answered. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“You’ll never have to find out,” Stephen assured him. His eyes fluttered closed, and Nick smiled and pressed a kiss to his forehead before he settled down beside him to sleep.

 


	7. Chapter 7

If it was possible, Stephen looked even younger when he was asleep. Nick usually woke up first, and he had turned on his side to watch Stephen sleep.

A few weeks before, the feeling of Nick’s eyes would have woken him. As time went by, Stephen became used to the professor observing him at strange, and often inappropriate times – like that day in the shopping centre with the Raptors; they were supposed to be watching the CCTV but Nick just couldn’t help himself, he found himself staring at Stephen’s profile as the younger man studied the film.

Since they’d started spending their private lives together, as well as their working lives, Stephen had stopped noticing Nick’s eyes on him at all hours.

Nick did miss the way Stephen would have slowly stirred under his gaze during the early days of their relationship, but the regret at losing that was overpowered by the love of watching.

He pressed his fingertips to Stephen’s warm skin, and ran them down his chest. Stephen’s breath hitched, and Nick held his own breath as he waited. Just as he hoped, Stephen’s breath levelled out again as he settled back into a deep sleep.

Nick smiled when he saw Stephen’s erection hardening under Nick’s ministrations. His fingers found their way to Stephen’s tight entrance and he paused.

While his brain was still thinking it over, his body had obviously decided, because two of his slick fingers – and he couldn’t remember opening the lube – were pushing inside the younger man.

Stephen’s breathing faltered again, and Nick was sure he’d woken him then, but after a brief pause it settled back into its rhythm.

When Nick’s fingers were replaced with his throbbing erection, Stephen shifted under him, and Nick froze. He thought for a moment that Stephen had jolted because Nick had hurt him in some way. But Stephen’s face stayed serene, so Nick thought he’d be ok to continue.

He moved slowly though, until he was buried to the hilt inside his lover, desperate not to disturb him before it was time.

“Stephen,” he whispered, leaning forward to press his lips against Stephen’s ear. “Wake up.”

He punctuated each word with a gentle rocking of his hips, and it made him smile when Stephen groaned.

“Nick?”

His voice was sleepy, and a little confused and it sent shockwaves through Nick’s body, to his throbbing erection.

Stephen clenching his muscles around Nick a few times, and finally forced his eyes open.

“Good morning.”

“It just keeps getting better,” Nick told him, pressing his lips against Stephen’s.

The younger man was still pliant below him, and he wasn’t fully awake yet. Nick smiled and rocked his hips forward with slightly more force.

“You awake yet?” he teased.

“Five more minutes,” Stephen smirked.

He closed his eyes, but Nick knew he wasn’t asleep. His breathing was far too laboured, too shallow, for that. Nick didn’t care though. He pressed his lips to Stephen’s neck, sucking and biting at the tender flesh until he left deep bruise that matched the one on his own neck.  

Stephen ran his fingers through Nick’s hair. He loved the feel of the older man’s weight settled on top of him – surrounding him, and consuming his senses.

As Nick rocked into him, all Stephen could see and feel and smell was the professor. Stephen thrust his hips upwards hard, trying to disturb Nick’s rhythm. He wanted to get Nick to make some of those delicious noises that he adored.

Just like he wanted, Nick’s hips stuttered, and he made a quiet, whimpering noise – a mix of arousal and annoyance – and Stephen chuckled before he repeated the action.

“Even half asleep you’re controlling,” Nick muttered into Stephen’s neck.

Stephen laughed, and the sound vibrated through his whole body and shot through Nick’s like electricity.

“Is that a problem?” Stephen asked, tightening his muscles around Nick again.

Whatever retort Nick had been preparing died on his lips as the incredible friction dragged another whimper from his lips.

“God, Nick, you feel so incredible,” Stephen whispered.

“So do you,” Nick growled, hips snapping forward harder than he’d intended. The apology he was about to make seemed irrelevant when Stephen arched his back and pressed himself closer to Nick. The older man whimpered. “Can’t…” he murmured.

“Cum for me, Nick,” Stephen pleaded. “Please!” he gasped when Nick hit his prostate, hard.

Nick bit down hard on Stephen’s collarbone as his orgasm thundered through his body. Stephen gasped, and his muscles tensed through his own release, without any touch to his aching erection. Nick covered Stephen’s body with his, tongue tracing Stephen’s abs as he licked up every drop of his release.

“Nick?” Stephen whispered, as Nick curled up beside him. “You know you said you weren’t going to let me out of bed for days…”

“I remember,” Nick answered.

“Can we have some breakfast before you start holding me hostage?”

“I’ll bring something up,” Nick told him, rolling to his feet.

“Nick?” Stephen didn’t speak again until Nick was at the door. “Aren’t you going to put some clothes on?”

“I wasn’t planning on it.” Nick told him. Then he walked out of the room. 


	8. Chapter 8

When Nick returned with a tray of food, and two steaming mugs of coffee, Stephen had fallen back asleep.

“Stephen,” Nick murmured, kissing him awake. “Eggs, toast,” he went on, passing him the plate. “There was supposed to be bacon, but I’ve run out,” he apologised.

“If I hadn’t done the shopping you wouldn’t have any eggs or bread either.” Stephen chuckled, before he began shovelling food into his mouth. As he ate, he briefly realised they hadn’t had any dinner the night before, and he didn’t think they’d had lunch either, and realised that explained his desperate hunger.

Nick was watching him again.

“You know you stare at people a lot. Mostly me,” Stephen pointed out.

“Do I?” Nick asked, sipping his coffee. “I was thinking.”

“About anything exciting?”

Stephen set his empty plate aside, taking Nick’s and stacking it on top, and drained his coffee so quickly that he burnt the roof of his mouth.

“We’ve never had breakfast together before,” Nick told him. “We used to have lunch a lot, and dinner occasionally, but never breakfast.”

“You’ve never taken me prisoner in your bed, that’s why,” Stephen teased.

“If it’s such a terrible experience for you, feel free to leave at any time,” Nick answered, wrapping his fingers into Stephen’s hair and kissing him.

Unsurprisingly, the younger man tasted of coffee and eggs, but there was always the taste of something unique just underneath. He wondered what he tasted like to Stephen, but he didn’t like to ask.

“Nick?”

Nick realised Stephen was looking at him, and that he’d stopped responding to the kiss. “Do I ever have your full attention?” he teased.

“Sorry,” Nick murmured. “I’m back,” he promised.

Stephen rolled over and pressed his lips against Nick’s again. The older man responded, his tongue exploring the familiar yet unfamiliar territory of Stephen’s mouth.

He felt all the blood in his body heading south, and quietly groaned into the kiss. Stephen pulled back, smiling.

“What?” he asked.

“I’m not as young as I used to be,” Nick answered.

“I think a certain part of your anatomy didn’t get the memo,” Stephen told him, and he wrapped his fist around Nick’s erection.

“Stephen!” Nick gasped, and thrust forward into Stephen’s hand. “I can’t…” he whispered.

“You can,” Stephen insisted, tightening his grip.

“No,” Nick insisted, pushing Stephen’s hand away. They curled back up in each other’s arms. “Is this all we do?”

“Sorry?” Stephen asked.

“Sex, and work, and more sex,” Nick murmured. “Is that it?”

“We also sleep,” Stephen teased. “What’s wrong, Nick?”

“Sometimes, now and then, couldn’t we just talk?”

“You talk; I’ll listen,” Stephen answered. Nick rolled over, turning his back on Stephen and curling in on himself.

“Nick…” Stephen whispered, resting a hand on his shoulder. “What did I say this time?”

“We used to talk,” Nick murmured. “When you were my assistant, my student, we spent all those late nights in my office. We never ran out of things to say,” he went on. “I love you, Stephen. But I don’t want to lose my best friend.”

“I’m right here,” Stephen answered. “Maybe we finally ran out of things to say,” whispered.

Nick finally turned back to him, a smile tugging at his lips.

“Chocolate or vanilla?”

Stephen laughed. When he was a student, he’d been playing This-or-That with some friends in the university bar, and Nick had overheard them. The game had fascinated the professor.

“Come on, you’re not supposed to think,” Nick coaxed.

“I was remembering,” Stephen answered. “Vanilla. Sugar or salt?”

“Salt.” Nick licked his lips, and Stephen wondered if he was remembering the taste of Stephen’s release from earlier that morning. “Winter or summer?”

“Summer,” Stephen answered. “About 100 million years ago,” he added. Nick laughed. “Birds or reptiles?”

Nick saw through that question in a fraction of a second.

“You know I can’t answer that. Everything we’ve seen is so beautiful,” Nick whispered.

“Deadly,” Stephen corrected.

“Being deadly doesn’t make anything less beautiful,” Nick countered. “You can’t deny it, Stephen. They’re beautiful.”

“So are you,” Stephen whispered. “Do you have any more?”

“No.”

“I do,” Stephen teased, running his fingers down Nick’s chest. “Give or receive?”

“If it’s from you: both, as many times as possible,” Nick told him. Stephen laughed, and wrapped his hand around Nick’s neck to pull him into a kiss.

“Stephen…I really want you,” Nick whispered. Stephen didn’t any more encouragement than that to reach between them and wrap one hand around Nick’s erection. “You make me feel like a teenager again,” Nick whispered.

“The feeling is entirely mutual,” Stephen assured him. He rocked his hips forward to brush his throbbing erection against Nick’s. Nick gasped.

“Inside, Stephen, before I lose it,” he pleaded.

Stephen reached for the lube, but when he began to coat his fingers, Nick took the bottle away from him. He spread it over Stephen’s erection instead, making Stephen groan as he stroked his length.

“Now,” he insisted.

“No way, my fingers first,” Stephen told him.

“I don’t need it,” Nick pleaded.

Tentatively, Stephen guided his erection to Nick’s entrance. The older man wrapped his legs around Stephen’s hips and pulled him closer, silently begging him to move faster and deeper.

Stephen was surprised by how little resistance he met with, as he pushed inside. But not nearly as surprised as Nick, who almost screamed when Stephen hit his prostate on the first deep thrust.

“God, Nick,” Stephen whispered against Nick’s neck. “I love you so much,” he murmured.

“I love you too,” Nick answered. “God, we should have done this years ago,” he added, pushing his hips into Stephen’s thrusts.

“Definitely,” Stephen agreed, snapping his hips forward. He through the motion might be too hard, and that it would make Nick pull away from him. But the older man just thrust harder against Stephen and groaned.

“Do that again,” he pleaded. Stephen did, and then he did it again to make the older man scream. It worked. Nick tried to keep thrusting his hips against Stephen’s but as he drew nearer to the edge he found he couldn’t maintain the rhythm.

“Nick…” Stephen almost panted, as he desperately tried to breathe enough to form the words. “Are you close, Nick?” he gasped. Nick’s muscles just clenched in response.

“Yes,” Nick managed to spit out the words. “Please,” he murmured. Stephen wrapped his hand around Nick’s throbbing erection and with a few rapid strokes he pulled Nick over the edge and tumbled with him.

In the aftermath, of the most intense release Nick could remember, they curled around each other and drifted slightly. 

“Nick,” Stephen murmured. “What do you wanna do today? Or is this really it?”

“How about takeout, and a movie. Then we can go for round three.”

Stephen laughed, but he nodded.

“Can we watch Jurassic Park?” Stephen asked.

Nick paused, mentally running through his DVD list in his head. Finally, he nodded, but laughed too.

“If you really want to,” he agreed. “I think we should get dressed.”

“I think we should just take the duvet and sit on the sofa with it,” Stephen corrected. Nick just nodded, and tried to get to his feet, but he couldn’t balance yet. 

Nick didn’t watch the movie. They’d both seen it before, more than once, but he knew it was one of Stephen’s favourites. That being said, he favoured watching Stephen watch the movie.

The expressions on his face were enough to keep Nick fascinated for hours.

“Stephen?” Nick murmured.

“Mm…”

Stephen’s non-committal noise, accompanied by the briefest glance, didn’t assure Nick that the younger man was listening. Within seconds, his attention was fully captured by the film again.

“Can I choose the next film?” Nick asked.

“Mm…”

Stephen made the same non-committal noise, but Nick decided to take that as a yes. In his head, he started working through every X-rated film he owned. It wasn’t a long list.

When the credits rolled, Nick untangled himself from his friend and got up to put on the new film. He hesitated for a moment, and let Stephen see the case. Stephen stared at it for a long time, and Nick allowed him the time to say no. Nick was a little surprised when Stephen nodded.

Nick smiled to himself as he slipped the DVD in, not wanting to give Stephen another chance to stop him.

It was Nick’s favourite; he had seen it so many times that he knew every moan and every whimper, so he watched Stephen’s face instead.

At first, he looked uncomfortable. It was almost as if he had never watched anything like it before, but Nick knew better than to believe that.

Then the discomfort on his face changed; Stephen became uncomfortable for an entirely different reason. Nick felt Stephen’s erection against his thigh, and shifted his weight slightly. The friction made Stephen growl.

“Nick…” Stephen whispered. “You aren’t even watching it.”

“I’ve seen it before,” Nick answered. “I know how it ends.”

Stephen’s hand wrapped tightly around his erection, making Nick’s eyes widen. He reached for the remote urgently, pausing the DVD and focussing on Stephen.

“Can I watch you?” Nick whispered. Stephen just nodded, and moved his hand slowly. Nick reached forward to set the remote down, but he stopped himself and looked back at Stephen. “Do you want me to put it back on?”

“I really don’t need it,” Stephen answered. Nick set the remote on the coffee table, and moved to the other end of the sofa so he could have the best view.

He wasn’t sure which was more erotic, watching Stephen’s hand or watching his face. So he let his eyes flick between the two.

Stephen chewed on his bottom lip until it was swollen, and as his hand sped up his breathing turned shallow and desperate.

He looked up, and for a moment his eyes locked on Nick’s. But then he groaned, and his head fell back, and his eyes rolled back, and Nick gasped at the sight. Stephen tightened his hand, and moved even faster, and Nick knew instantly that this was better than anything he’d seen on the screen.

This was better than any X-rated DVD he could ever own, because this was Stephen, his Stephen, and he was so close that Nick could reach out and touch him. But he didn’t.

He was reaching for Stephen, ready to replace the young man’s hand with his own, but at the last moment he decided it would be far better just to watch.

“God, you are so gorgeous,” Nick whispered. His skin flushed and his breathing became laboured and it was suddenly too hot. “I love you so much.”

“I love you!” Stephen gasped. Blue eyes flashed open, and met Nick’s again, and his hips jumped up to thrust into his grip. He growled something that Nick didn’t catch, and twisted his fist once more before he loosened his grip.

Nick didn’t notice Stephen moving towards him until their lips collided in a desperate kiss. He whimpered into the kiss, and reached for Stephen’s erection. When Nick covered Stephen’s hand with his own, the younger man broke the kiss and mumbled something incoherent.

“God, that’s so good,” Stephen whispered.

Nick swiped his thumb across the head of Stephen’s erection, gathering the pre-cum that was gathering there. He very nearly lost it when Nick sucked his thumb into his mouth and the taste of Stephen made him groan.

“Are you going to cum for me?” Nick growled.

He pushed Stephen’s hand away, and replaced his with his own. His grip wasn’t nearly tight enough, or moving quickly enough, but Stephen still didn’t think that would delay the release that was building in the pit of his stomach.

“As if I could refuse,” Stephen muttered. His hips kept thrusting into Nick’s grip of their own accord. “I love you,” he gasped, and he spilt his release over Nick’s hand.

The sight of the professor licking his hand clean made Stephen moan, and he pulled Nick into a kiss. Stephen didn’t think he would ever catch his breath again, even when they separated. He leant back, head still spinning, and Nick smiled.

“How long as it been…” Nick murmured, resting his head on Stephen’s chest, “since you had three orgasms in one day?” he asked.

“Not since I was a lot younger,” Stephen muttered. “A student, maybe. I am too old for this.”

Nick didn’t say anything for a long moment. He took the DVD out of the player and put it back in the case, leaving it beside the TV to put away later. He curled back up with Stephen, tangling their fingers together, and looked up at him.

“Wanna go for four?” Nick smirked.

Stephen groaned, leaning forward and kissing him again. 

“You, Professor Cutter, are evil,” Stephen answered.

“I warned you I had plans for you,” Nick reminded him. “And you knew none of them involved clothes. You can’t say I didn’t warn you,” he added.

“I need a nap,” Stephen muttered. His eyes fell closed, because keeping them open had become far too much effort in his post-orgasmic state of bliss and exhaustion. “And then, we can try for four.”

Even as sleep took hold of him, he was smiling, and the sight made Nick happy.

 


	9. Chapter 9

            It was a Wednesday evening, late in the summer, when Stephen returned to his flat to pick up what was left of his possessions.  

            When he closed the door behind him, dropping his empty boxes to the floor, he noticed Helen was sprawled out across his sofa.

“What the hell are you doing in my flat, Helen?” he asked.

“Were you planning on telling me that you were moving in with my husband?” she got to her feet, and started walking towards him. He stepped around her, and walked further into the flat.

“Why would I have to tell you? It sounds like you already know plenty about what’s going on,” Stephen told her. “Ex-husband,” he corrected quietly.

“We were never divorced,” Helen pointed out.

“It’s hard to divorce someone who’s dead.”

“I feel very much alive,” Helen told him, with a smirk. “See, what I really wanna know is, is Nick as boring in bed with you as he always was with me?”

Stephen couldn’t stop himself smiling as the memories filled his head. He didn’t know how Helen could ever describe Nick’s touch as boring. He didn’t answer.

He continued ignoring her as he began to fill his boxes.

“Did you ever figure it out?” Helen asked.

“Figure what out?” Stephen sighed. He didn’t want the riddles.

“What I said, that day in the woods,” Helen answered. “About falling for one of your students. Oh Stephen, did you really think I was talking about me?”

Stephen turned around so quickly he almost lost his balance, his eyes wide, and Helen almost laughed.

“Penny in the air…”

“Nick?” Stephen whispered.

“And the penny drops,” Helen smirked. “He was in love with you from the very first day he met you. I could never compete after that. You always had his attention.”

“That’s why you and I…” Stephen whispered. “You slept with me to prove you could, and he couldn’t. I always knew you were a bitch, Helen, but that is pure evil.”

“Thank you,” Helen replied, considering his words a compliment. “I guess I’ll have to find somewhere else to take my showers from now on,” she went on. “I suppose, I could always go home.”

“Try it,” Stephen challenged. “And we’ll make you wish you were still with the predators.”

 

Stephen used his keys to let himself back into Nick’s house. He supposed it was their house now. As he set his boxes on the floor, Nick came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a dishcloth.

“You’re cooking?” Stephen asked. Nick nodded. “And here’s me, planning to pin you against the nearest wall and kiss you until you can’t think straight.”

“It’ll keep,” Nick answered. He pushed Stephen against the wall and pressed their lips together. “Is everything ok?”

Stephen was holding him so tightly he could barely breathe.

“Did something happen?”

“Helen was there,” Stephen whispered against Nick’s neck. He pushed his hips forward desperately against Nick’s, begging him to stop talking. It didn’t work, and Stephen was almost glad that it didn’t.

“What did she say to you?” Nick gripped Stephen’s hips hard enough to leave bruises as he tried to hold him still.

“She told me that you’ve been in love with me since the day we met,” Stephen whispered.

“That was why she slept with you,” Nick told him. “What are you trying to prove, Stephen?” he asked, when Stephen slammed his hips against the professor’s again.

“Nothing. I just want to show you that I love you,” Stephen insisted. “Don’t make this something it’s not.  I want you,” he pleaded.

Nick considered it for a moment, but finally he nodded. He pressed his lips against Stephen’s again, and Stephen slammed his hips forwards. His erection pressed firmly against the bulge in Nick’s jeans that was growing harder with ever thrust of Stephen’s hips.

“How long have we got?” Stephen asked.

“Half an hour.”

“Not long enough. Not nearly long enough,” Stephen muttered. He pushed Nick back, and then caught his hand and tugged him towards the lounge. Stephen shoved Nick onto the sofa, straddling his lap.

“God, Nick!” he gasped when Nick’s erection pressed against his own.

“Isn’t that my line?” Nick teased, when Stephen’s lips attached themselves to his neck. “Oh shit, that’s good,” he muttered, when Stephen’s tongue swiped across his skin.

“It gets better. Gets so much better,” Stephen was fully aware he was babbling, but he really couldn’t have cared less, because Nick’s hands had resumed their white-knuckle-grip on his hips as he tried to drag Stephen closer.

“Fuck, I need to feel you,” Stephen whispered. His fingers fumbled with the buttons of Nick’s shirt desperately, but he couldn’t seem to manage to open it. “You always feel so good,” he growled. When his fingers refused to cooperate, he tore the shirt open and sent buttons flying as the fabric parted. Nick groaned, and pressed his body closer to Stephen’s. Stephen just kept babbling, growing more and more incoherent as he opened Nick’s belt.

Stephen barely pushed Nick’s off, tugging them away far enough to free his aching erection. And Nick wanted to protest the urgency, but then Stephen was sucking on his sensitive nipples, and he didn’t care anymore.

“Need…” Nick tried to murmur, but Stephen shushed him.

“No,” Stephen told him. “Suck.”

He pressed two fingers to Nick’s lips, and the professor did as he was told, while Stephen used his other hand to open his own belt and shove his jeans down just far enough.

Nick couldn’t do anything but watch, his eyes wide and his breath coming in short gasps, as Stephen stretched himself open with three fingers. Before Nick could say anything else, Stephen was sinking down onto his erection, and the younger man’s muscles tight around him felt like heaven.

Nick tugged at his Stephen’s t-shirt desperately, but pulling it over his head. Stephen sunk down further, until Nick was fully sheathed inside him, and then pressed a kiss to his lips.

“Shit, Stephen, you’re still so tight,” Nick muttered against his neck. He was sure that Stephen must be in at least a little pain. Stephen just laughed, and the sound vibrated through both of them.

“Feels really good though, doesn’t it?” he whispered against Nick’s neck.

Despite the fact that Stephen’s muscles were clenched like a vice around his throbbing erection, and despite the fact that Nick could feel the bruises blooming where Stephen’s fingers were tight around his biceps, Nick couldn’t deny that it felt so much better than “good”.

And then – _fucking hell –_ Stephen was rocking his hips against Nick’s, and the friction was not nearly enough and far too much and it made Nick’s blood boil as it rushed through him.

“Incredible,” Nick finally managed to gasp.

When Stephen shifted, the look on his face was almost enough to make Nick come apart right then. He was sure, without any doubt, that Stephen was pulling that face because the head of Nick’s erection had brushed against his prostate. Before Stephen could shift again, Nick slammed his hips up so hard it almost made Nick scream.

“Fucking hell.”

Stephen fell forwards with the force of it, his head resting on Nick’s shoulder as the professor held his hips in place and thrust up into him again and again.

The angle of Nick’s brutal thrusts, the feel of his hot breath on Stephen’s skin and the tight grip of his hands on Stephen’s hips, was al just too damned perfect. Stephen knew he wasn’t going to be able to last very long if Nick maintained his brutal pace.

Stephen’s breathing was as shallow as Nick’s thrusts were deep, but he managed to drag up some self-control from somewhere, and re-established his earlier rhythm. But every time Nick slammed upwards, he felt himself faltering slightly.

“Oh, God, Nick, so damned good,” Stephen babbled.

His hips maintained their rhythm as the litany of nonsense spilled from his lips.

Nick twisted one hand into Stephen’s hair and pulled him into another breath-taking kiss. It was too much effort, and required too much concentration, for Stephen to continue to respond to the kiss. When his mouth went slack against Nick’s, the professor pulled back and started kissing his neck instead.

Stephen growled when Nick’s tongue flicked against his throbbing pulse point, and Nick responded to the sound with another deep thrust.

“Oh, God, Nick, too much…”

“I’ve got you,” Nick murmured, stroking his hand down Stephen’s back soothingly. Stephen rest his forehead on Nick’s shoulder again. “Come for me, baby,” He whispered. His tongue traced patterns on the soft skin below Stephen’s air.

With one more deep thrust into Stephen’s tight heat, Nick stilled, and his muscles throbbed with the exertion as he released inside his lover.

The feel of Nick’s release flooding into him was all it took to push Stephen over the edge and his release shot over Nick’s stomach.

Stephen’s breath still wouldn’t come. He gasped desperately again Nick’s shoulder as the older man stroked his back and whispered reassurance in his ear.

Finally, the tightness in his chest relaxed, and he managed to draw breath a little deeper each time.

“I love you,” he finally whispered.

Nick smiled, and he opened his mouth to answer, but his words were lost in a groan when Stephen’s muscles clenched around him and the sensation was too much for him to handle.

“Nick,” Stephen murmured after a moment, shifting his hips slightly.

“Mm?” Nick looked up at him. The sated look in his eyes made Stephen’s length twitch with interest, but he couldn’t have gotten hard again if his life depended on it.

“Is something burning?” Stephen asked.

“Probably,” Nick sighed against Stephen’s chest, but he didn’t try and make Stephen move off of him. “Wanna call for takeout?”

“Now I understand why you don’t cook,” Stephen teased.

“This is all your fault,” Nick retorted. “It was going perfectly. But then you came home, and you were so horny, and you looked so fuckable, that I couldn’t say no. I can never say no to you.”

“I know,” Stephen answered. “And I fully intend to exploit that for all it’s worth.”

With much reluctance, he slowly lifted himself off of Nick’s lap, and settled into the sofa beside him. Nick zipped up his jeans, and started to reach for his shirt, but he quickly realised that his shirt was a lost cause so he left it in a crumpled heap on the floor.

He jumped, startled, when he felt Stephen’s lips pressing against his stomach. But then, the younger man was licked his own cum off of Nick’s skin, and the professor couldn’t do anything but groan.

Nick reached for Stephen, desperate to feel the younger man’s soft skin under his fingertips. Nick’s fingers danced over the muscles of Stephen’s bicep and shoulder. He had never considered it before, but it really was erotic to feel the strong muscles contracting and relaxing under his touch. Stephen just gasped at the gentle touch.

“It’s not fair,” Nick whispered.

“What’s not fair?” Stephen asked.

Like he so often was, he was completed lost, unable to follow Nick’s erratic train of thought.

“You. You’re all sold muscle, and soft skin, and I’m…”

“You are perfect,” Stephen interrupted. “Now, you mentioned takeout. I am starving.”

 

They sat on opposite ends of the sofa with their feet tangled together in the middle. They were watching a documentary that claimed to be one of the most knowledgeable on prehistoric ornithpods.

Every so often, Nick would interrupted the documentary’s commentator to inject remarks about how mistaken he was about various things. Every time he did, Nick’s comments made Stephen chuckle.

He pulled Nick’s feet into his lap, and slowly dug his fingers into the soles of Nick’s feet. Nick growled at the sensation.

“Maybe you should right them a letter,” Stephen teased. “Although, when you tell them how you know all their mistakes, they’ll probably have you sectioned.”

“If I were, would you visit?”

“Nothing could keep me away,” Stephen answered.

“You know, if the whole world saving thing doesn’t work out, I think you may have missed your calling,” Nick murmured. Stephen’s fingers kept working over his feet, relaxing the muscles.

“If the whole world saving thing doesn’t work out, I think it might be a little late for back-up career choices,” Stephen teased. “Say it doesn’t…what would you do?”

“Go back to lecturing for a living, I suppose,” Nick answered.

“Really?” Stephen raised one eyebrow, and Nick laughed.

“Were my lectures really that bad?” Nick asked.

“Of course not,” Stephen lied. Nick just laughed harder. “They weren’t bad. But everyone could always see you would rather me in a muddy pit somewhere than in a classroom. And after everything we’ve seen…I don’t think you could step back inside a classroom.”

“I think I’d cope,” Nick replied. “If I had my gorgeous research assistant at my side.”

“Do you think you’ll get bored?” Nick asked suddenly. His voice was more serious than before.

“Bored of what?” Stephen asked, looking up to meet Nick’s gaze. The documentary played on, but neither of them were watching it anymore. 

“Helen got bored after about a year. Then she started sleeping with other men. What we have now, is just so intense and desperate and passionate. When that fades away, when I’m not new and exciting anymore, do you think you’ll get bored of me?”

“Never,” Stephen replied, shaking his head. “Besides, we could never be boring,” he smiled. “We’re too buy being action heroes.”

“You are,” Nick muttered, his eyes roaming over Stephen’s bare chest and drinking in the rippling muscles.

Stephen shook his head, but Nick pulled his feet out of Stephen’s hand and crawled across the couch to run his palm over Stephen’s pecs.

“Promise me?”

“Promise what? I’ll say anything,” Stephen murmured, as Nick’s hands travelled over his muscles and eased out the tension.

“You know what,” Nick whispered, his eyes fixed on his hand as it moved across Stephen’s chest.

There was nothing salacious about the contact, there was no deeper desire for anything more; the spark of electricity where their skin was touching was enough, along with the pleasure that came from the skin-on-skin contact.

“I promise,” Stephen pushed Nick’s hand away, and his breath caught as the contact threated to overwhelm him, “that I could never, and I will never, be bored of you.”

“Don’t you want to know why I was cooking?” Nick asked. His eyes locked on Stephen’s desperately.

“Well, taking a wild guess, so we could eat it,” Stephen answered. Nick shook his head despairingly.

“No jokes. Not now. This is really important,” he told Stephen.

“You’re scared me now,” Stephen told him. Nick stood up, and headed for the kitchen, but he was back moments later.

“I wanted it to be special,” Nick told him. “There were candles, and I had wine, and everything…Then you were there, looking so desperate, and ruined all my plans. It was going to be so damned perfect that your heart would burst.”

“This feels pretty perfect,” Stephen answered. “Nick, tell me what’s going on,” he pleaded.

Nick bit his lip.

He had spent so long planning everything, and imagining it, and this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. There was supposed to be candles and wine, and a meal, and light hearted conversation. It was supposed to be a moment that Stephen would never forget.

And the lack of all the things Nick had been planning for was almost enough to give him an aneurism.

“Nick?” Stephen prompted.

The silence was killing him. Nick still didn’t say anything. He moved slowly; so slowly that Stephen barely noticed him moving until he was there, down on one knee at Stephen’s feet.

“Stephen…what with the world nearly ending every other day, I know that the rest of my life might not be as long as we like to think. But however long we have left before this whole world-saving thing blows up in our faces, I want to be able to spend every second of it with you. Stephen Hart, will you marry me?”

Nick pulled the small black box out of his pocket, and flipped it open.

The sight of the glimmering metal was enough to make Stephen’s breath catch in his throat, and he couldn’t speak.

 


	10. Chapter 10

“Come here,” Stephen muttered. He pulled Nick onto his lip and crushed their lips together in a bruising kiss.

“Is that a yes?” Nick asked.

“Damn right it’s a bloody yes,” Stephen answered.

“Then give me your hand,” Nick told him. When Stephen held out his hand, Nick slipped the silver band onto his finger. The sapphire glittered, the exact colour of the Permian sky on the other side of their very first anomaly, and the allusion to their work made Stephen smile.

He stared down at his hand for a long moment.

“Don’t you like it?”

The worry in Nick’s voice caught his attention immediately.

“I love it,” he assured him. “And more importantly, I love you.”

“I love you too,” Nick whispered.

And then he pressed his lips against Stephen’s again. This kiss was slower than the previous bruising contact, and much more gentle; it was a promise of everything the future held, everything still to come. Stephen ran his hand over Nick’s chest, and stopped when he felt Nick’s heart pounding under his fingertips. He smiled against the professor’s lips.

Before Stephen could stop himself, he pulled away from the kiss.

“Are you gonna tell Helen?”

He regretted the question as soon as it was out of his mouth. He knew that he shouldn’t have asked, and even if it was ok to as he should have waited for a better moment.

“If she ever comes back,” Nick murmured, “no. I don’t think I will,” he answered. “If we do, she’ll show up and say all kinds of things to hurt us. She’ll crash our wedding and try to ruin everything.”

“Our wedding, I like the sound of that. It sounds nice,” Stephen whispered. “She’s tried before. It didn’t work then, and I’m sure as hell not going to let it work now.”

“It sounds perfect,” Nick whispered. “You and me, Stephen Hart, against my ex-wife and the rest of the world.”

Stephen just smiled, and leant against Nick’s chest to listen to his heart beat.

“I think I’m gonna sell this place,” Nick murmured.

“Why?” Stephen asked, as Nick started toying with his hair. “You love this house.”

“I do. But I bought it with Helen, and there’s just too much history in it now. I think maybe we should have somewhere that’s just ours; somewhere Helen has never been.”

For once, Stephen could follow Nick’s train of thought perfectly, and he tightened his arms around Nick’s waist.

“Are you ok?” Nick asked.

“Yes,” Stephen whispered. “I have never been better,” he added. He smiled as Nick’s fingers kept playing with his hair. Nick smiled back, and started drawing patterns on Stephen’s skull with his fingertips.

The contact made Stephen groan, and he tilted his head back to look up at Nick.

“Bedtime?” Stephen suggested.

“Bed,” Nick agreed.

Stephen got to his feet, and held out his hand. Nick took it without a second thought, and allowed himself to be led out of the lounge and up to bed.

 

The feeling of Stephen’s lips on the back of his neck woke Nick up the next morning. The feeling of the younger man’s arms sliding around his waist only heightened the pleasure and anticipation that were beginning to flow through him.

“What are you doing?” he murmured.

“Saying good morning,” Stephen replied. His breath was hot on the back of Nick’s neck. “Good morning,” he added.

“It’s certainly looking like one,” Nick agreed, and he rolled over to face Stephen. Stephen just smiled. As his hands settled on Nick’s hip, the professor felt the cold press of the ring on Stephen’s hand as it met his skin. He smiled to himself, and Stephen raised his hand and brushed his fingertips down Nick’s cheek.

“What’s that look for?”

“I’m…happy,” Nick answered. “For the first time in a long time, I have plenty of reasons to be happy.”

Stephen smiled, leaning in to take his lips in a kiss.

“I turned your phone off,” Stephen mumbled, between breath-taking kisses. Nick jerked back from him, a cautionary look settling onto his face.

“Stephen…” he began.

“No,” the younger man interrupted, shaking his head. “I am not listening to any arguments. We have earned this day, one day off. And besides, aren’t we supposed to be celebrating?” Stephen smirked.

Nick shook his head despairingly, but he didn’t even attempt to pull away from Stephen’s tight grip.

Before he could say anything else, Stephen was pressing his lips against his professor’s in a bruising kiss. And Nick really didn’t care enough to push him away and chastise him further, because Stephen’s tongue was doing delicious things in Nick’s mouth, and his hips were rocking against the professor’s.

“Stephen…” Nick murmured. He gripped Stephen’s hips hard enough to form fresh black bruises in the shape of his fingers, and they kept moving against each other. 

Stephen just growled against Nick’s lips, desperate for the sensations only the older man could provide.

“Nick!” he gasped, finally pulling away from the kiss. “God, Nick, please, I need you,” he babbled into Nick’s neck.

“Tell me.”

Stephen could have sworn that he heard the smile in Nick’s voice, and the way he deliberately curled his accent around the words only served to make Stephen even harder. He slammed his hips against Nick’s, harder than was entirely necessary.

“God, Nick, please, stop fucking teasing,” he growled. Nick laughed, and moved his hips against Stephen’s slowly – so slowly Stephen would have deemed it torture if he could have remembered how to form the words.

“Please,” Stephen whimpered. Nick smiled, and pulled himself away from Stephen.

“Tell me,” he repeated.

Stephen whimpered desperately at the need growing in his stomach, and tried to pull Nick closer again. Nick stayed where he was, somehow resisting the desperation in Stephen’s actions.

“I need you,” Stephen whispered. “I need to feel you. I need to feel you inside me, completing me. I need you to fuck me. Hard. Fast. Now. God, Nick, please.”

“Yes,” Nick whispered. His eyes glazed over with the lust that matched Stephen’s own. “Yes,” he repeated. He pushed Stephen onto his back, settling his weight between Stephen’s legs. Stephen looked up at him; his pupils were blown so wide Nick could barely see the ring of blue around them, and his eyes were hooded with lust. The sight made Nick lose his breath. He didn’t think he had ever seen anything so beautiful, so perfect.

At first, looking down at his lover, he deemed it impossible to find a more beautiful sight in any era. But then Stephen reached out for him. The rising sun was flooding the room with light, and it caught Stephen’s ring perfectly, at the impossible became possible. The sight before him became even more beautiful.

Nick caught his hand, and locked their fingers together, and leant down to press his lips against Stephen’s.

Their tongues fought to dominate the kiss for a few seconds, but Nick gave in easily so that he could reach over and retrieve a bottle of lube from the bedside table while Stephen was still engaged in the kiss.

When the first of his slick fingers breeched Stephen’s tight ring of muscle, the younger man gasped and broke the kiss. Nick chuckled and pushed in another finger.

He pressed them both against the bundle of nerves that made Stephen whimper beneath him.

“Please,” Stephen muttered. He forced his eyes open to meet Nick’s piercing gaze. The professor was staring into his eyes like he was looking into his soul, and it made pleasure roll through him in waves. “Please, Nick,” he whimpered.

Nick removed his fingers and replaced them with his throbbing erection, in one swift motion. Stephen gasped, and Nick groaned, and his erection stretched open Stephen’s tight entrance.

Stephen tangled his fingers into Nick’s hair, and pulled him down into another kiss. It was sloppy and messy, and desperate, but Nick just buried himself deep inside his lover and groaned.

Nick growled into Stephen’s mouth, and Stephen whimpered into Nick’s, and the two sounds couldn’t have been differentiated if their lives depended on it.

Nick rocked his hips slowly, determined to drag out Stephen’s pleasure for as long as he possibly could. But Stephen clenched tight around him, equally determined to pull his professor over the edge.

“Some people just have no patience,” Nick muttered. He shook his head, trying to look like he disapproved, but he couldn’t find it in him to seriously protest; not when Stephen was tight and hot around him, and the younger man was trying so desperately to bring him to the pinnacle of pleasure.

When Nick finally began to thrust in and out of him, Stephen cried out with the relief that the movement provided. But the shallow thrusts brought him little relief, and did nothing to help his straining erection. His bliss was short-lived as Nick continued with his torturous pace.

The professor always knew though. He always knew when the pleasure of teasing turned to pain. He always knew when Stephen was about to cross the line. And just as Stephen was about to tumble over it, Nick pulled out completely and slammed back into him.

Stephen screamed.

But the look on Stephen’s face assured Nick that his lover wasn’t in pain, so he repeated the action and made Stephen cry out again.

Nick would have loved to see how many different noises he could drag out of the younger man. One day, he promised himself, he was going to spend an entire day learning each of the different noises Stephen could make; he was going to spend hours cataloguing how to make his lover make each of those delectable noises.

But that was a task that Nick was saving for another day, a day when he had more than enough time to give it the attention it deserved – the attention Stephen deserved.

So he maintained the brutal pace he had set, with the sole intention of making Stephen fall apart under him.

Nick saw the climax approaching before Stephen felt it. He saw the muscles in Stephen’s stomach clenching, and his length twitched and his passage clenched around Nick’s erection.

Nick reached between them, and closed his fist tightly around Stephen’s aching erection. It only took two tight strokes to pull him over the edge. With Stephen’s muscles clenching around him, Nick didn’t stand a chance, and he followed Stephen over the edge and emptied himself inside his lover with a shout.

Stephen pulled him down into a kiss, and when Nick pulled away neither of them could quite breathe. Stephen thought maybe he’d caught his breath, but then Nick was drawing pictures on his abs with his tongue as he cleaned cum of his stomach, and Stephen didn’t think he would ever remember how to breathe again.

“Nick…” Stephen whispered, pulling him into another kiss. “I love you, Nick.”

“I love you too,” Nick answered.

He curled up in Stephen’s arms, listening to his heart still pounding as he tried to find a way to catch his breathe.

“Can I have my phone back yet?” Nick asked. Stephen shook his head.

“No,” he answered. “Not until I decide I’ve finished with you,” he added, running his hand down Nick’s chest and wrapping his hand around Nick’s half-hard length.

“Stephen…” Nick whispered. “I can’t, Stephen,” he murmured. But he knew his body was going to betray him even as he protested, and he felt his blood rushing south.

“It sure feels like you can,” Stephen smirked, moving his hand along Nick’s length.

Before Nick could move, or argue, or even consider if he wanted to stop Stephen, the younger man had wrapped his lips tightly around Nick’s erection and his hands were gripping Nick’s hips too tightly for him to move.

Nick gasped, as Stephen’s tongue started to work on the over-sensitive, over-heated flesh and he briefly wondered if he was old enough to have a heart attack. When Stephen hollowed his cheeks to suck harder on the burning flesh, Nick knew without any doubt that there was no question; Stephen was definitely going to kill him.

But as Stephen’s tongue worked over his length, and danced along the line between pleasure and pain at just the right point, he concluded that he really didn’t care if it did kill him. It was more than worth it, to feel this.

Stephen lifted his head, and replaced his lips with a tight fist around Nick’s length.

“You’re thinking too hard,” he told the professor. Nick would have laughed, if he had any breath left in his body.

“As if I could think at all while you’re touching me like that,” Nick countered. Stephen moved his fist faster, and Nick’s hips jumped into the grip, and the older man groaned.

“Jesus Christ, Stephen,” Nick muttered. Stephen’s tongue swiped over the head of Nick’s erection and Nick saw stars again.

Stephen didn’t answer. He just wrapped his lips tightly around Nick’s length again, slowly pulling every inch of him into his mouth and down into his throat.

The feeling of Stephen’s throat tightening around his length as he swallowed around him was enough to make Nick groan, and he realised two things; he was wrong  about not being able to come again, and he wasn’t going to last very long either.

It seemed like it was Stephen’s intention to drag him the edge as quickly as possible. The merciless assault of pleasure was definitely working.

“Stephen!”

Nick twisted his fingers into Stephen’s hair, desperate to feel as much of him as possible, and he tried not to pull too hard as another swipe of Stephen’s tongue made him cry out.

Stephen pulled back, his eyes burning with lust as they met Nick’s.

“Come for me, Nick,” Stephen whispered.

He sealed his lips around Nick’s length so as not to lose a drop of his release.

It might have been the command, or the sensation of Stephen’s mouth, or just the pleasure that was overloading Nick’s senses, but he coudlnt have stopped his orgasm even if he had wanted to. And it wasn’t like he had any reason to try.

Stephen swallowed every drop, using his tongue to tease Nick’s length as he twitched through his release. Stephen was so determined to drag out the pleasure for as long as possible.

He still knew just when to stop. He knew just when Nick was about to cross the line and go from pleasure to pain. He pulled back at just the right moment, and dragged Nick into a kiss.

“I told you that you could handle it,” Stephen teased. Nick just laughed. His breathing was still laboured, but he smiled anyway.

“You just had to say “I told you so”, didn’t you?” he replied.

“Well, it’s so rare to get the chance to be right when I’m with you,” Stephen answered. He laughed too, and rolled out of bed. “I am going to go and make you breakfast,” he told Nick.

“Really?” Nick asked, raising one eyebrow. He fell back into the pillows, and let his eyes slip closed. “Do try not to set anything on fire,” he added sleepily. He vaguely heard Stephen laughed, but didn’t open his eyes to see Stephen walk away.

“Nick.”

Suddenly Stephen’s lips were pressed against his ear, and he forced his eyes open.

“I love you. I promise not to burn down our kitchen.”

“I love you too,” Nick laughed as Stephen walked away.


End file.
